GOP lawmakers propose compromises on ports

White House working 'to keep this moving forward'

(CNN) -- Two Republican lawmakers have submitted compromises to the White House aimed at ending a dispute over a deal that would give a United Arab Emirates-owned company control of several U.S. port terminals.

The lawmakers said they are waiting to hear back from the White House, which said Monday that efforts to move the deal forward were continuing.

DP World's purchase of P&O, the British company that now manages cargo and passenger terminals at the ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, has stirred up intense opposition in Washington.

A British appeals court cleared the $6.8 billion merger Monday, declining to hear the appeal of a Florida company, The Associated Press reported.

Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN he has proposed a compromise under which DP World would subcontract the operation of the cargo terminals to a U.S. company.

DP World would still receive profits but would not have access to security information.

"Dubai Ports can still be the contractor, but actual work and the access to everything would be controlled by a totally separate American company," said King, a leading critic of the deal.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, has presented a similar deal. Collins, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has also raised questions about the merger.

President Bush has threatened to veto any congressional attempt to block the deal, warning that it would risk alienating a key American ally in the Persian Gulf.

Under pressure from the White House and Republican leaders in Congress, DP World has agreed to delay taking control of P&O's North American port operations until a 45-day security review can be completed.

The DP World deal has received approval by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS), a group led by the Treasury Department that includes representatives from the departments of Defense, State and Commerce.

Critics of the deal have pointed out that two of the September 11, 2001, hijackers came from the UAE, and that funding for the attacks was funneled through banks in Dubai, a major Persian Gulf financial center.

Some Democrats, meanwhile, are using the issue to point out what they see as election-year missteps by the administration.

"It's resonating because people have come to the realization that the Bush administration is basically incompetent," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters Monday.

White House undeterred

A senior administration official told CNN that the White House is not talking directly to DP World or the UAE about the deal, but there are "lots of conversations with all entities."

The White House, the official said, is "working with the Pete Kings of the world to keep this moving forward," but would not elaborate.

The administration, Congress and the company are locked in a delicate dance, with much of the discussions conducted through middlemen such as lobbyists or lawmakers. Two officials involved told CNN the White House is not talking directly to the company because it is wary of appearing to pressure DP World.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday that the president's position on the DP World deal "remains unchanged."

"We're confident that at the end of this review process that more members will be comfortable with this transaction moving forward," McClellan said.

"What we are focused right now on is working with Congress to make sure that they have the information they need and to make sure that they have a better understanding of the facts," he said.

On Sunday, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said on ABC's "This Week" that he would introduce a bill to prohibit any foreign entity from owning facilities that the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security deem critical to national security.

And Collins said on "This Week" that she and Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, will sponsor a bill that would move CFIUS oversight from the Treasury Department to the Department of Homeland Security.

On Monday, Lieberman, the ranking Democrat on the Senate homeland security panel, called the Bush administration's proposed 2007 homeland security budget "shortsighted and short-funded given the dangers we are facing."

"This budget fails to address the damage that terrorists can do to us with weapons of mass destruction or dirty bombs in containers shipped into this country," Lieberman told reporters.

He said he had submitted an alternative plan to the Senate Budget Committee with significant increases in spending for homeland security.

CNN's Dana Bash contributed to this report.