DOBBS: The rare type of radioactive material linked to the death of a former Russian spy has now been discovered on two British airliners. British Airways is asking tens of thousands of passengers who may have flown on those jetliners to contact health authorities. Two Boeing 767s at London's Heathrow Airport tested positive, and a third was grounded.
The airline says the health risk is low. But it's trying to reach people who may have been aboard those jets since October 25th and have come into contact with polonium 210, the deadly substance.
A deal that drew outrage and condemnation all across the nation, in part because of our reporting here, may be finally coming to a resolution. D.P. World, a Dubai-owned company, says it is accepting what it calls final bids for its U.S. port operations within the next two weeks. The bidders, who were not identified by Dubai Ports World -- they do, however, say all of the bidders are American.
The original deal that allowed the Dubai company to take over operations at six U.S. ports was first highlighted back in February on this broadcast. Following the uproar, D.P. World said it would sell all its 21 port operations to an American-owned company.
Apparently the Bush administration didn't learn much from its Dubai Port fiasco. Incredibly, it appears the Bush administration is going ahead with a plan to give control of our airlines to foreign investors, despite the fact that the United States Congress has expressly disapproved that idea.
Bill Tucker has the report.
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BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Domestic control of our airlines appears to be coming to an end. That, despite overwhelming bipartisan opposition in Congress to a rule change that would give day-to-day operational control to foreign investors.
REP. FRANK LOBIONDO, ® NEW JERSEY: Aviation is a very critical component of homeland security and of our economy. And I don't think we can afford to do anything which even brings into question that homeland security would not be under complete control of the United States and the United States interest.
TUCKER: Rumors of the imminent change prompted members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to remind the White House of their opposition in a letter, quote, "... Congress has taken a strong position that a major change to the current law regarding foreign ownership of U.S. airlines should be accomplished only by Congressional action, not unilaterally imposed by the Executive Branch. Making the rule final in the face of bipartisan Congressional opposition would be a very poor start to the 110th Congress..."
The administration says it not only has the right to make the rule change, Congress is making a big deal out of nothing. Yet back in February, the representative of the Department of Transportation conceded the obvious. JEFFREY SHANE, DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION: They would be able to make the commercial decisions that define the shape of the product, the quality of the product, the routes that were flown.
TUCKER: As well as what planes to buy, where they're maintained.
REP. PETER DEFAZIO (D), OREGON: I mean, the national security implications losing control of the Civilian Reserve Air Force fleet, the massive job losses for American pilots, flight attendants and others associated with the airlines, and in all probability dramatic cutbacks in domestic service.
TUCKER: If DOT makes the change, DeFazio and Lobiondo say Congress will override it.
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TUCKER: Now, we repeatedly called the Transportation Department asking for comment, asking if a rule change will, in fact, be announced soon. The Department had no comment.
Lou, this is all being done as so often it is in the name of free trade. The United States, seeking to gain landing rights in Europe and in London. Amazingly, those European airlines already have landing rights here. We're not denying those right, we're just giving away the airlines to land in Europe.
DOBBS: Well, "we" is a big word. The Bush administration, with its manifest -- what does George Bush -- I mean, straightforward, this administration, do they understand this is an American government, a democracy, a representative government?
It is absolutely insufferable to tolerate this kind of arrogance. Thank goodness that the Congress is standing up. And thank goodness we're going to have some oversight and some checks and balances, we hope, in this new government.
Bill Tucker, thank you very much.
