Bush says he remains supportive of ports deal

GOP unity threatened
A bipartisan group of senators have introduced the same measure in the Senate. Some Senate Republicans said the fresh investigation — brokered by congressional GOP leaders to quell the political outcry — wasn’t sufficient.

“While it’s a step in the right direction to undertake the 45-day review, Congress must have the opportunity to actually examine that report and vote within 30 days to disapprove the sale,” Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said in remarks prepared for delivery before the Senate Commerce Committee later Tuesday.

Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during that panel’s hearing on threats to national security that he found “flaws” in the Bush administration’s earlier consideration of the ports deal.

But Warner, R-Va., expressed optimism the government will approve the transaction after a lengthier investigation and he praised the “high degree of mutual trust” between the United Arab Emirates and United States.

On Monday, Sen. Susan Collins, the chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, disclosed the Coast Guard document during a hearing and said she was “more convinced than ever that the process was truly flawed.”

In February, the Commerce Committee vetted the appointment of David C. Sanborn of Virginia, a senior DP World executive, to be the new administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Transportation Department.

The White House appointed Sanborn, who worked as DP World’s director of operations for Europe and Latin America, to the post in January, the same month the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the DP World takeover.

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