[Mb-civic] House Agrees To Vote On Ports - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

House Agrees To Vote On Ports
Showdown With President Likely

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 8, 2006; A01

Efforts by the White House to hold off legislation challenging a 
Dubai-owned company's acquisition of operations at six major U.S. ports 
collapsed yesterday when House Republican leaders agreed to allow a vote 
next week that could kill the deal.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) will attach 
legislation to block the deal today to a must-pass emergency spending 
bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A House vote on the 
measure next week will set up a direct confrontation with President 
Bush, who sternly vowed to veto any bill delaying or stopping Dubai 
Ports World's purchase of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Co.

"Listen, this is a very big political problem," said House Majority 
Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), explaining that he had to give his 
rank-and-file members a chance to vote. "There are two things that go on 
in this town. We do public policy, and we do politics. And you know, 
most bills at the end of the day, the politics and the policy kind of 
come together, but not always. And we are into one of these situations 
where this has become a very hot political potato."

Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), 
said GOP leadership is "endorsing the viewpoint of our members and 
Chairman Lewis that we do not believe the U.S. should allow a 
government-owned company to operate American ports."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said last night that the 
administration is "committed to keeping open and sincere lines of 
communication with Congress." She added, though, that "the president's 
position is unchanged."

Since the Dubai port issue exploded last month, the Bush administration, 
GOP leaders and DP World officials have tried to defuse the situation 
and to buy time to let the issue fade.

In a deal brokered by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), DP 
World resubmitted its acquisition this week to the administration for a 
45-day national security investigation. Frist has said he will hold off 
any legislation in the Senate until that inquiry is completed, a vow 
meant to give the administration and the company a chance to present 
their case.

That agreement appears to have quieted calls in the Senate for immediate 
action against the deal. Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), an early critic of 
the deal, said briefings by port security experts and company officials 
have eased his concerns. But House Republican aides and Senate Democrats 
said the Senate will almost certainly have to follow once the House acts.

"This issue is going to go away like the sun's not going to come up in 
the morning," said Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

"There's a lot of politics going on around here," Martinez said.

The House is still boiling. Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan 
Hunter (R-Calif.), with bipartisan support, introduced legislation 
yesterday that would scuttle the deal; mandate that the owners of 
"critical infrastructure" in the United States, including ports, 
highways and power plants, be American; and demand that cargo entering 
U.S. ports be screened within six months of passage.

"This is a question at the heart of the security challenges we will be 
facing in this next century," Hunter said.

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) has been 
shopping around a compromise requiring DP World to team with a U.S. 
partner, which would have complete control of operations at the 
company's holdings at the ports of New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, Miami and New Orleans.

But lawmakers from both parties suggested they could not accept that. 
Hunter said employees and management would remain obedient to the 
company's owners, no matter how walled off from operations those owners 
are. "It's difficult to come to the conclusion that security can be 
absolute and ownership can be irrelevant," he said.

Even King questioned whether it would be workable. If DP World were 
guaranteed a percentage of the profits from its U.S. holdings, it would 
have to have access to financial records that King wants to deny the 
company. Instead, King said, DP World would have to receive a flat 
annual sum from those operations, a contract that may be impossible to 
write.

DP World officials were similarly noncommittal.

"We appreciate the comments and suggestion of the congressman, among 
many other congressmen and people from the White House also, as well as 
the senators," Sultan Bin Sulayem, Dubai Ports World's chairman, told 
CNN. "This 45 days that we have volunteered for review is a good chance 
for all of us, I think. And I think by the end of this, they will 
realize that there is no fear, no worry about security."

DP World officials suggested yesterday that within days, Peninsular & 
Oriental's operations will belong to them, no matter what Congress does.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/07/AR2006030701229.html?nav=hcmodule
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