Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are proposing legislation that would block a Dubai-owned company from taking over operations at several US ports, brushing aside a veto threat from President George W. Bush.
"We want to make sure that the security of our ports are in America's hands," said Representative Jerry Lewis, whose House Appropriations Committee was to approve the measure yesterday.
The move marks the latest step in a Republican revolt in Congress unlike any other in Bush's five years in office. The president has yet to veto any legislation, and GOP leaders have been careful to avoid sending him anything he wouldn't sign.
PHOTO: AP
But now, six months before an election, they have decided to challenge him. All 435 House seats are up for election in November, and Republican Bush's extremely low popularity in the polls has some people saying the party could lose its majority in the House.
"We're not going to let the Democrats get to the right of us on national security," Republican Representative Peter King, the House Homeland Security Committee chairman, said recently.
The legislation is expected to reach the House floor next week as part of a US$91 billion measure for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and aid for Gulf States recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
Republican House leaders informed the White House staff of their intention on Tuesday at a House leadership meeting that was also attended by the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Ken Mehlman. He did not respond when House Republicans detailed the legislation, according to meeting participants.
Efforts by the Bush administration to quell the controversy have failed on Capitol Hill, and voters are largely opposed to the DP World plan.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
RSS