WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Tuesday defended a deal that would let a United Arab Emirates-based company run some key U.S. seaports, telling reporters that he would veto any bill to hold up the agreement.
Bush, who has yet to veto a bill during his administration, warned that the United States is sending "mixed signals" by attacking a Middle Eastern company after the ports were run by a British firm for several years.
Lawmakers who have called for the deal to be blocked need to "step up and explain why a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard," he said.
Among the lawmakers from both parties threatening to hold up the deal is Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. (Watch how both parties are teaming up against Bush -- 1:14)
"If the administration cannot delay the process, I plan on introducing legislation to ensure that the deal is placed on hold until this decision gets a more thorough review," Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said.
The administration has faced criticism this week over its decision to let a subsidiary of UAE government-controlled maritime management firm Dubai Ports World run ports in New York and New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Miami, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana. (See where the ports are)
Critics say the takeover raises security concerns, noting that two of the hijackers in the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington came from the UAE and that the hijackers drew funds from bank accounts in Dubai, the financial center of the Persian Gulf.
But a port security expert said security fears are based on "bigotry" against Arabs.
"This whole notion that Dubai is going to control or set standards for U.S. ports is a canard," said Kim Petersen, head of SeaSecure, a U.S.-based maritime security company, and executive director of the Maritime Security Council, which represents 70 percent of the world's ocean shipping.
The agreement is scheduled to take effect March 2. It was approved by the federal Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, which includes representatives of the FBI, Pentagon and Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security departments.
Dubai Ports World recently acquired the British-based firm that currently directs commercial operations at those ports, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation. The takeover by Dubai Ports World means that it will be in charge of those operations.
"I don't understand why it's OK for a British company to operate our ports but not a company from the Middle East when we've already determined security is not an issue," Bush told reporters aboard Air Force One after Frist urged the administration to block the deal.
The Bush administration argues the deal was properly approved and poses no security threat. Administration officials are scheduled to discuss the sale Thursday with the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the committee's chairman, Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia. (Watch what role the UAE plays in the war on terror -- 1:57)
"Nothing in this acquisition has anything to do with the responsibility for security in American ports," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "That remains very firmly in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security. What we're talking about is the management of some port operations."
Of the facilities to be sold, the port in New York and New Jersey is the largest, handling about 4.5 million container units in 2004 and is among the nation's top 10 in terms of containers handled, according to the American Association of Port Authorities.
Miami is the next largest port with about 1 million container units, and Baltimore handled about 558,000 in 2004, the AAPA said.
Ted Bilkey, chief operating officer of Dubai Ports World, and other senior executives are in the United States to brief congressional, government and other officials.
"We followed U.S. law and actually approached the U.S. government for approval of our security arrangement weeks prior to the formal review," Bilkey said. "We will continue to work with the U.S. government in maintaining the highest standards of security at U.S. ports, and will fully cooperate in putting into place whatever is necessary to protect the terminals."
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has called for hearings and, "in the meantime, Congress must put an immediate halt to this deal that the administration hastily approved in secret without input from the Congress or state officials."
Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, already introduced a bill to put the deal on hold. Democratic Senators Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York are sponsoring a bill that would block the sale of U.S. port operations to foreign governments.
"My office today has received more phone calls on this than any issue in the 14 years I've been in the United States Congress, and every one of them is in support of what Senator Schumer and I are doing," King said.
Ereli said Homeland Security officials have had good relations with Dubai Ports World, and he said the United States has a "strong and effective partnership" with the UAE "from a counterterrorism point of view."
But Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and the chairwoman of the Senate Government Affairs and Homeland Security Committee, said that "although the UAE is an ally in the war on terrorism, the country has historically been used as a base of terrorist operations and financing," she said.
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