Coverage of ports deal

New cash coming for ports

New York-area ports will receive nearly $26 million next year to fortify themselves against terrorist attacks by land or sea, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will announce as early as today.

Senate passes security bill

Eager to burnish their national-security credentials before midterm elections, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill yesterday to strengthen the nation's port security. But it beat back a Democratic proposal that would have set deadlines for scanning overseas cargo for nuclear weapons or "dirty" bombs.

Clinton aides had hand in Dubai deal

In the spring, when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was denouncing the Dubai Ports World deal, a consulting firm run by her top advisers was quietly lobbying for a Dubai takeover of two U.S. defense plants, Newsday has learned.

Pols debate port security

An increasingly partisan showdown over a port security bill erupted before a Senate panel yesterday when New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg engaged in a dueling match with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff over whether all cargo coming from overseas ports should be scanned for nuclear devices.

Schumer pushes for ports vote

Sen. Charles Schumer is demanding that all cargo shipped from 42 ports overseas be screened for nuclear devices and will try to force a vote on an amendment as early as today.

NY sens. rebuffed in funds recovery

Republicans beat back a last-ditch attempt by New York's senators to boost federal homeland security funding by more than $1 billion, in an effort to offset 40 percent in cuts to anti-terror grants to the state and city.

Port security is on the docket

The House today is expected to approve a sweeping port security bill, two months after lawmakers revolted over a Bush administration plan to give control of six U.S. ports to a United Arab Emirates-owned company.

House battle over port security

A post-Dubai showdown between Republicans and Democrats over port security reform is shaping up today in the House, with the homeland security committee voting on competing cargo inspection bills.

Call for more port screening

Sen. Charles Schumer, fresh from his weeklong tour of China, is demanding that the United States immediately implement a cargo screening system used in Hong Kong that allows inspection of all containers passing through the port.

REPORTING FROM DUBAI

The impact of rejection

In many ways, America's ties here seem quietly back to normal after Congress scuttled a Dubai firm's purchase of U.S. port facilities. U.S. Navy ships are docking for shore leave at the main port south of town and the government is warmly welcoming American business, celebrating a regional office being opened here by the Manhattan-based financial services firm Morgan Stanley.

Port security updates stalled

A year after New Jersey's attorney general called on elected officials in New York and New Jersey to pass legislation that would fill a gap in port security, lawmakers have yet to act on what could be a potential vulnerability in the vast port network the states share.

His moment

George W. Bush's Dubai nightmare began early last month, the moment Chuck Schumer fielded a call from an Associated Press reporter asking New York's senior senator to comment on an obscure plan to rejigger operations at six U.S. ports.

Bloomberg irate over dead deal

A raging Mayor Michael Bloomberg is lashing out at politicians who blocked the Dubai ports deal, calling the charge that the contract compromised homeland security "the cheapest political shot in the world."

Port deal dies in a storm

In a bid to end the Dubai ports fracas, a United Arab Emirates-owned company yesterday agreed to transfer operations at six U.S. ports to an American "entity" - hours after GOP leaders pronounced the deal dead on Capitol Hill.

Port deal in trouble

A House panel voted yesterday to scuttle a proposed deal to give control of operations at six American ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, setting in motion a legislative process that could hand President George W. Bush his first significant congressional defeat.

GOP set to battle Bush on port plan

Republican leaders on Capitol Hill said yesterday that a legislative showdown with the White House over a proposed deal to give control of operations at six American ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates could begin as early today.

King eyes deal on port safety

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-Seaford) says President George W. Bush can dodge defeat on the Dubai ports deal only by backing the creation of a U.S. subsidiary to keep the United Arab Emirates from directly controlling U.S. shipping terminals.

Bill's Dubai input

Bill Clinton coached United Arab Emirates officials on how to handle the Dubai ports controversy two weeks ago - but didn't tell his wife about that conversation, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton disclosed yesterday.

Ports deal faces wide opposition

Americans, by a greater than 3-1 margin, oppose the proposed deal that would allow a state-owned Arab firm to assume control of operations at several U.S. ports, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.

Israel a factor in ports deal

Senate Democrats yesterday opened a new line of attack against the controversial Dubai ports deal, challenging a top executive of the United Arab Emirates firm to explain that nation's support of a boycott against Israel.

Port deal warning

Despite repeated White House assurances that the Dubai ports deal poses no significant threat, the Coast Guard warned last year that it couldn't say whether the company involved would provide a platform for "terrorist operations" at U.S. seaports.

Timeout on ports

A company owned by the United Arab Emirates has tossed a political life preserver to the White House, voluntarily submitting to a 45-day investigation of its increasingly unpopular deal to operate terminals at six East Coast ports, including New York/Newark.

Compromise on ports in works

The Bush administration and top Republicans are hammering out a deal in which a controversial Mideast company seeking to run U.S. seaports would submit to a longer, more rigorous investigation of its bid, congressional sources said yesterday.

Ellis Henican: Pols part over port security

Oh, this is getting fun. All my usual opponents are slashing each other now.

A 'cooling off' delays ports deal

The White House has pressured a state-owned company from the United Arab Emirates into delaying its contract to run six East Coast ports in order to buy time needed to quell a Republican revolt against the $6.8 billion deal.

Dubai officials, Osama cozy before 9/11, CIA says

President George W. Bush calls the nation behind the port-security controversy a trusted ally, but the Sept. 11 commission offers another take - saying the CIA believed top United Arab Emirates officials had cozy relations with Osama bin Laden before 9/11.

Schumer ally is port company's new lobbyist

Days after Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) first attacked the Dubai Ports World U.S. seaport deal, the multibillion-dollar company hired a new lobbyist: former Long Island congressman Tom Downey, the senator's close friend and Democratic Senate campaign fundraising partner.

Bias charges in port issue

While officials battle out whether having a United Arab Emirates company run six U.S. ports could pose a security threat, Muslims in the New York region see another perspective: a double standard against Arabs.

Port deal was put on fast track

The Bush administration put a Middle Eastern firm's deal to run U.S. seaports on a fast track to approval by sidestepping a legally authorized 45-day review - simply by declaring the deal posed no national security threat, U.S. officials confirmed yesterday.

Bipartisan political wildfire

It has been portrayed by critics as a security issue, but the exploding controversy over the Bush administration's approval of a Dubai-based company's deal to help operate a half-dozen East Coast ports also involves a potent brew of election-year opportunism and anti-Arab demagoguery that could damage America's standing in the global economy, experts say.

Bush's push on ports

President George W. Bush dug in his heels yesterday over plans to let a Middle Eastern firm run six ports, including some in New York, pledging to veto any congressional move to block the deal amid a growing bipartisan uproar.

Ports cause a storm

The debate over an Arab company's takeover of operations at six major American ports heightened yesterday with Rep. Peter King declaring that U.S. terms for approving the deal are insufficient to guard against terrorists and with Sen. Charles Schumer and family members of Sept. 11 victims urging President George W. Bush to intervene to block the port security contract.