Bungled deal overshadowed GOP agenda

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The ports deal was bungled from the beginning, but it became doomed after congressional offices were flooded with calls and the news began to crowd out the rest of Republicans' agenda.

"I don't know if we do a postmortem or the rigor mortis on this," said Rep. Mark Foley, Florida Republican and one of the earliest opponents.

He said the calls to his office were so overwhelming that it was comparable to when Republicans impeached President Clinton. But that time opinion was divided, whereas for the ports deal there was a "universal audience of antagonism -- 'What are you all thinking of up there?' "

Lawmakers yesterday were waiting to see exactly how DP World planned to divest itself of operations at six U.S. ports, and many said the issue will not go away.

In the meantime, they said, the deal was a wake-up call to Congress and to President Bush, who they said was ill-served by his administration because staffers didn't see the political context and didn't bring it to the attention of top-level officials.

"Considering we live in a dangerous world and remain a nation at war, the fact that a sale of this magnitude can be fully vetted and approved without the knowledge of one Cabinet secretary, Congress or the president is a clear indication that the system is broken," said Rep. J. Gresham Barrett, South Carolina Republican.

The issue gave Democrats a chance to try to position themselves as stronger on national security than the president, and left Republicans worrying about sending mixed messages on the one issue they thought they had a lock on.

More than two weeks ago, Mr. Bush told reporters if he was presented with a bill blocking the deal, "I'll deal with it, with a veto."

But he found himself in the line of fire from Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. Senate Republicans seemed to accept a new 45-day investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but House Republicans -- all of whom are up for re-election in November -- wanted the deal blocked outright.

House Republicans openly talked about overriding a veto and set up such a confrontation Wednesday, pushing for an amendment to the emergency war-spending bill that would block the DP World deal. It passed 62-2 in the House Appropriations Committee, with just one Republican and one Democrat opposed.