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GOP bills threaten port deal

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. discusses a bill he is submitting in reaction to the Dubai ports deal on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Richard Simon Los Angeles Times
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. discusses a bill he is submitting in reaction to the Dubai ports deal on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

WASHINGTON – Showing no sign of backing down from a possible showdown with President Bush, House Republican leaders on Tuesday endorsed a proposal to block a government-owned Arab company’s takeover of some port facilities in six U.S. cities.

With the blessing of the GOP leadership, Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, plans today to attach a provision halting the deal to must-pass legislation funding hurricane relief and military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We do not believe the U.S. should allow a state-owned company to run American ports,” said Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

The GOP leadership is setting up a confrontation with the White House by attaching Lewis’ measure to the $91 billion emergency spending bill, which is expected to reach the House floor next week.

Bush has threatened to veto any legislation that attempts to block Dubai Ports World’s purchase of port facilities in New Orleans, Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Newark, N.J., from the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., a private British company. The $6.8-billion deal, which includes port operations around the world, is expected to be finalized this week.

In response, Dubai Ports World, which is owned by one of the sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, agreed last month to a new 45-day review of the implications of its takeover of the facilities on U.S. security. It also agreed to postpone hands-on operation of the disputed terminals until the review was completed.

Neither action has calmed the political storm.

As Lewis was preparing his proposal, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced legislation that would not only would kill the deal but prevent foreign companies from controlling facilities deemed critical to the U.S. economy and national security.

“It will probably include ports, it will probably include some power plants and other things,” he told CNN on Tuesday. Under his proposal, once the secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security determine what is critical infrastructure, “that infrastructure has to be owned, managed and operated by Americans.”