GOP Mutiny On Ports Deal

Republicans on Capitol Hill boldly defied President Bush on Wednesday and hammered what could be the nail in the coffin for Dubai's U.S. ports deal, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

By a 62-2 margin, the House Appropriations Committee voted to bar DP World, which is run by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from holding leases or contracts at U.S. ports.

The panel acted without awaiting the outcome of a 45-day review of the DP World takeover's potential security risks, which the administration had agreed to undertake in hopes of extinguishing a political furor.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., the panel chairman, led the revolt.

"This is a national security issue," Lewis said, adding that the legislation would "keep America's ports in American hands."

Lewis tagged his deal killer onto must-pass legislation to pay for the war in Iraq. That could make it hard for the president to keep his vow to veto any port-stopping legislation.

Rep. Peter King of New York is another Republican who is at odds with the president. He acknowledges Republicans are concerned about losing ground to Democrats on the issue of national security.

"My opposition is based on the fact I think it is damaging to our security," King said. "But there's also the political reality that Republicans don't want to cede the ground of security to the Democratic Party."

Both Democrats and Republicans tell CBS News this issue is all they are hearing about when they go home and talk to constituents or when they get telephone calls on Capitol Hill. And in what is an election year for most of them, they say they'd rather please the voters than the president.

A lot of people on Capitol Hill, including several members of Congress who have had contact with the administration, now think the White House, even though it's publicly saying it still supports this deal, realizes privately it cannot go forward as planned and they will have to find a way to avoid this legislative mess and keep Dubai Ports World out.

The Dubai company is said to be scrambling and trying to think of a way to compromise. They were pretty firm before in the plan but now, Attkisson reports, they are up on Capitol Hill floating options such as having a subsidiary operate the U.S. ports.

In the Senate, Democrats moved for a vote as well by trying to attach a measure blocking the deal to legislation designed to overhaul rules governing travel, gifts and their dealings with lobbyists.

"We believe an overwhelming majority will vote to end the deal," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., whose attempt to force the issue to the floor brought the Senate to a standstill late Wednesday afternoon.

Congressional supporters of the deal "are few and far between," conceded Sen. John Warner, R-Va., an administration supporter.

Senate Republican leaders are trying to block a vote on the ports deal through a procedural vote that could occur as early as Thursday. That tactic is likely to fail, which could prompt Republicans to temporarily pull a lobbying reform bill from the floor in order to avoid defeat on the ports measure.

GOP Senate leaders hope to delay a quick showdown with Mr. Bush on the issue, but the House committee, led by members of the president's own party, showed a willingness to defy him on a security issue in an age of terrorism.

"One of the most vulnerable situations facing America is our ports of entry," said Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla. "Whoever's responsible for those ports of entry should be American."

Raising the stakes, the panel attached the ports language to a must-pass $91 billion measure financing hurricane recovery and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The committee approved the entire bill late Wednesday by a voice vote and the full House could consider that measure as early as next week.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the administration was concerned that attempts to address the DP World deal in that bill could delay money needed for U.S. troops and for hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast.

"We are committed to open and sincere lines of communication and are eager to work with Congress," she said.

The House and Senate developments underscored the extent to which the politically charged issue has come to dominate the agenda in recent days, with Republicans and Democrats competing to demonstrate the strongest anti-terrorism credentials in the run-up to midterm elections.

Republicans worked to prevent a vote in the Senate as an aide to Majority Leader Bill Frist said the Tennessean warned Treasury Secretary John Snow "the president's position will be overrun by Congress" if the administration fails to aggressively and clearly communicate with lawmakers during a 45-day review that is in progress.

The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private among Snow, Frist and several GOP committee chairmen. The Treasury Department oversees the multi-agency committee that initially approved the DP World takeover.

Republicans said it was possible senators would pass a simple symbolic statement in coming weeks that would put the Senate's view of the takeover on record without interfering with it.

But by mid-afternoon Wednesday, with the Senate debating legislation to respond to a corruption scandal involving lobbyists, Democrats signaled they wouldn't be satisfied with a weak provision.

Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters he was prepared to let the lobbying reform bill languish if necessary.

Senate Republicans accused Schumer of subterfuge in the way he sought to inject the issue into the debate, pointing to a letter earlier this month in which he and other Democrats said they would refrain from seeking immediate legislation.

Schumer and fellow Democrats brushed that aside, with Reid calling the maneuver "absolutely valid."