GOP Leaders Line Up Against UAE Port Deal
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he will introduce legislation to delay approval of the pending deal between Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. and Dubai Ports World, a United Arab Emirates-owned company set to acquire P&O's contracts to operate at least six major U.S. ports.
Frist's decision is a major break with the White House as the Senate majority leader is the highest ranking Republican in Congress to oppose the deal and personally vow legislation to delay approval unless the president intervenes.
"News that a Middle-East based firm is seeking to purchase the operating rights to several U.S. ports raise serious questions regarding the safety and security of our homeland. This decision should be put on hold while the administration conducts a more extensive review of this matter. Congress must also be involved in this process. I am requesting briefings on this deal," said Frist, a 2008 presidential hopeful, in a statement. He is currently in California touring border security areas.
"I'm not against foreign ownership," said Frist, who spoke to reporters in Long Beach, "but my main concern is national security."
Frist's announcement came after word arose Monday evening that House Speaker Dennis Hastert and newly-minted House Majority Leader John Boehner will soon be "flexing muscle" against the Bush administration-approved transaction.
"We are very concerned about it and that it could threaten our national security," one senior House Republican leadership aide told FOX News late Monday. Another senior aide said: "Most indications point to leadership flexing muscle against this transaction."
But former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said most Americans would be surprised to learn that foreign operators have always run U.S. ports.
"The fact of the matter is, you're going to find in many, many ports … are owned and operated by foreign companies or foreign contractors. It's a matter of the global maritime industry. It happens around the world. The bottom line at the end of the day is who's ultimately responsible for security. A lot of people have confidence in the Coast Guard and they should," he said.
Ridge added that DP World would not provide security at any U.S. port. That job is conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, both agencies in the Department of Homeland Security. The employees working at the ports will remain American longshoremen.
"I admit that to the average citizen, the optics don’t appear very good, but frankly there's a huge difference between what they perceive and what really is," Ridge said, adding that the "transaction has been vetted" at the highest levels and was not a decision taken lightly.
"The conclusion that you draw from some of these public statements is that no one in this administration cares enough about security or port security, they like to be very cavalier about this transaction. That couldn't be the furthest thing from the truth. We all know better than that," said Ridge, who is also a former Pennsylvania governor.
Under federal law, the president has until March 2 to overrule approval granted by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States for DP World to purchase the London-based P&O, which has been running the commercial operations at ports in New York, New Jersey, New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Miami.
The multi-agency task force headed by Treasury Secretary John Snow and comprised of members of the departments of State, Justice, Commerce, Defense and Homeland Security reviewed the transaction and said it posed no national security threat.
On Monday, New York Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he was urging President Bush to delay approval of the deal. King also said he saw many reasons to cancel it altogether.
"I'm strongly urging the president to intervene to stop this, to freeze it, to put it on hold," King said. "This contract should not be allowed to go forward until there is a full and complete investigation. And there has not been a full investigation of this company nor of its roots in the United Arab Emirates."
King also charged that DP World won approval without thorough administration vetting.
"There have been allegations of weapons parts going through that port to Iran," King said of that country's own territory. "There's been allegations of corruption about that port. None of these have ever been investigated by our government."
King's comments were cleared by House GOP leaders and, according to sources, reflect the view of the House Republican Conference at large. Republicans are increasingly concerned about the political impact of the port story. They fear it could leave them vulnerable to Democratic criticism and at least partially undermine their political advantage on national security.
Late Monday, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., also called on the president to intervene immediately.
"We have 10 days to stop this transaction, a transaction that we think is not in the national security of the united states, and that needs to be stopped by the president," Menendez said.
On Tuesday, House Homeland Security Ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote King to request hearings on how the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) approves such deals. IN particular, he said he wanted an examination of CFIUS' review of foreign ownership issues related to transportation security as well as critical infrastructure such as telecommunications, Internet, and technology companies.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has defended the process that allowed approval of the $6.8 billion deal.
McClellan said the process of review was followed, but he did not defend the decision to approve the transaction or rule out the president's future involvement.
On the state level, Republican Govs. George Pataki of New York and Robert Ehrlich of Maryland have also voiced doubts about the sale.
"I have directed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to explore all legal options that may be available to them in regards to this transaction," said Pataki, who is still in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy.
"We needed to know before this was a done deal, given the state of where we are concerning security," Ehrlich told reporters in the State House rotunda in Annapolis.
The state of Maryland is considering its options, up to and including voiding the contract for the Port of Baltimore, Ehrlich said, adding: "We have a lot of discretion in the contract."
FOX News' Major Garrett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
foxnews.com |
