'Emergency' Bill Would Suspend UAE Port Deal

I have to split with the President on this one (and were border control and homeland security are concerned, we split often). There should be no way that we put an islamic country in charge of our ports...Period!!

(CNSNews.com) - With the issue gaining political traction in this election year, lawmakers in both parties are scrambling to criticize -- and now to block -- a deal that would give the United Arab Emirates control of major U.S. ports.
On Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) will announce "emergency legislation" to block the $6.8 billion deal.
Dubai Ports World, a company that is owned and operated by the United Arab Emirates, is buying a British company that currently controls most operations at six ports on the East Coast, including New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami and New Orleans.
The Department of Homeland Security screens a small percentage of the cargo coming in and out of those ports. But the port operator is responsible for the rest of the cargo, the port facility itself, and it also hires security personnel, Schumer and King noted.
They are among a growing number of lawmakers who object to having such critical functions being transferred to an Arab country, given concerns about terrorist infiltration.
The Bush administration considers the United Arab Emirates to be a key ally in the war on terror, but al Qaeda used its banking system to finance the 9/11 attacks, press reports said, and two of the 9/11 hijackers came from the U.A.E.
The port deal, which is supposed to be final on March 2, was approved by a U.S. government panel led by Treasury Secretary John Snow. The panel in question -- the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. -- includes representatives from 11 other federal agencies.
Such deals do not require congressional approval.

Read the rest here.

Update:
The president has threatened to veto the emergency bill.