House to vote on ports despite company promise

[cal04]

The U.S. House of Representatives will forge ahead with a vote on blocking an Arab-owned company from managing U.S. ports, to ensure the firm sheds its U.S. holdings as promised, a leadership spokesman said on Friday.

The Republican-run House's refusal to back away from the showdown vote was another blow to President George W. Bush, who suffered a stinging defeat Thursday when Dubai Ports World said it intended to back out of the deal his administration had approved.

Reverberations from the political earthquake continued on Friday. The United Arab Emirates suspended talks on a free trade pact with the United States, although a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office said delays are common. Bush said he was concerned the opposition sent a worrying message to Middle East allies. "In order to win the war on terror, we have got to strengthen our relationships and friendships with moderate Arab countries in the Middle East," Bush told newspaper editors.
(snip)
The White House had hoped the announcement would resolve the unprecedented crisis between Bush and a Congress run by his own party in open revolt. But Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said the House vote on a provision to bar the deal would go ahead Wednesday or
Thursday anyway. "It's a smart move to keep it (the legislation) in there, in case the Dubai thing doesn't work out," he told Reuters.

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=11498082&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

[wicket]

1. Hahahahahahaha!

:rofl:

[uppityperson]

2. Well good for them.

And I second that hahahahahahahahahaha

[NYC]

3. That's wonderful news.

They're not dropping this.

I've read that Dubai Ports World was giving up "ownership" of the 6 ports, but the other 15 ports were never mentioned. Maybe going ahead with this in Congress will prevent shady dealing. Let's hope so.

[salin]

4. Such a bad sign for bush

GOP in congress didn't think they got enough mileage from pushing bush down - they have to "vote" to make sure that they are on record being against the pres. bill. All election calculus. However the subtle message to the public is - "we don't believe Bush ... or this "backing down" and need to act to prevent..." in short - intended or not it says that the GOP in the House believes bush has a credibility/fidelity problem. :popcorn:

[annabanana]

5. doesn't matter anymore... Carlysle has it all under control...

The BFEE is set to rake in plenty in any case.

edit to add
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2158505