President Bush is vowing to veto any effort by Congress to stop or delay a deal his administration has approved to allow a company owned by the United Arab Emirates to operate ports in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Miami.

Senators Clinton and Schumer have offered competing pieces of legislation to address the deal. Mr. Schumer’s would require delay and further investigation of the deal, by which Dubai Ports World would acquire control over operations at American ports in a $6.8 billion merger with Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the British firm that currently operates them. Mrs. Clinton’s would bar foreign governments from operating American ports.

Critics say the deal could make America vulnerable to terrorists smuggling bombs in through ports controlled by a country with ties to terrorists. But Mr. Bush has said the UAE is an ally in the war on terrorism, that the deal is not a security threat, and that rejecting it would send a message of bias.

“After careful review by our government, I believe the government ought to go forward,” Mr. Bush told reporters flying with him on Air Force One. “I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company. I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, ‘We’ll treat you fairly.'”

He called the arrangement a “legitimate deal that will not jeopardize the security of the country.”

Mr. Schumer and Rep. Peter King, a Republican of New York and the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, yesterday announced they would each introduce bills into their respective houses of Congress that would delay the deal, which is set to take effect on March 2, until the federal government completes an in-depth, 45-day review of the company focusing on its potential threats to national security. The bills would require Congress and the president to review the results of the investigation and then decide whether to allow the deal to go forward.

Mr. Schumer told reporters his bill would reach the floor in the next two weeks and pass, perhaps unanimously, “like a warm knife through butter.”

He said after the ports deal had been delayed, lawmakers should review the foreign investment committee’s application process and examine whether foreign companies should be allowed to control port operations at all.

In response to the veto threat, Mr. Schumer said in a statement, “It’s hard to believe that this Administration would be so out of touch with the American people’s national security concerns that it would use its first ever veto to save this troubling Dubai ports deal.” Mr. Bush has not yet vetoed a bill as president.

Senator Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts, also spoke out against Mr. Bush’s veto threat yesterday. “A veto isn’t a solution, and I hope the President will reconsider and work with Congress to solve this problem. Four and a half years after 9/11, our ports are still extremely vulnerable. We can’t risk contracting out our national security – we need to get this right,” he said in a statement.

Four Democratic senators, Hillary Clinton of New York, Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, and Barbara Boxer of California, sent a letter to the Senate majority leader, William Frist, yesterday, urging him to schedule for immediate consideration a bill being introduced by Mr. Menendez and Ms. Clinton that would block the sale of American port operations to companies owned by foreign governments.

Mr. Frist, a Republican of Tennessee, yesterday said the Dubai deal needed to be put on hold pending further review.

The speaker of the House, Rep. Dennis Hastert, a Republican of Illinois, said in a letter to Mr. Bush that the proposal needed more thorough review.

The governor of New Jersey, Jon Corzine, yesterday said he would direct the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to file an action in state court to stop the deal. He said he would also direct New Jersey’s attorney general to file an action in federal court. The Port Authority oversees one of the port operations in question, the Port Newark Container Terminal.

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday sent a letter to Mr. Bush urging a full investigation. “There is nothing wrong with international investment in private companies,” he said. “Ports, however, are simply not like other enterprises, given the need for appropriate controls and security. Given the quick review of this transaction to date, we have not received the necessary assurances regarding security concerns.”

Earlier yesterday he told reporters that the initial phase of the British firm’s contract with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which oversees another of the operations, the New York Cruise Terminal, would expire at the end of 2006, and that the city was negotiating to restructure the agreement. “We’ve had the ability to get out of that for a long time, and security concerns should be on the top of every list,” he said.

The commissioner of the New York Police Department, Raymond Kelly, also urged delay yesterday, telling reporters, “I think it’s something that has to be very deeply vetted, and to the best of my knowledge that hasn’t happened.”

The president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, John Bowers, called the deal’s approval “inexplicable.” The union, which represents the workers at the six ports, also urged further investigation yesterday.

Governor Pataki and the governor of Maryland, Robert Ehrlich, on Monday urged delay, as have Senator Coburn, a Republican of Oklahoma; Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat of New York, and three Republican members of the House, Vito Fossella, Christopher Shays, and Mark Foley, of New York, Connecticut, and Florida respectively.

Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, said in statement yesterday, “We all need to take a moment and not rush to judgment on this matter without knowing all the facts. The President’s leadership has earned our trust in the war on terror, and surely his administration deserves the presumption that they would not sell our security short. Dubai has cooperated with us in the war and deserves to be treated respectfully.”

He added: “Let’s make a judgment when we possess all the pertinent facts. Until then, all we can offer is heat and little light to the discussion.”

Both Dubai Ports World and the Emirates government defended themselves last week.

“We have worked very closely with the United States on a number of issues relating to the combat of terrorism, prior to and post September 11,” the foreign minister of the Emirates, Sheik Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan, told the AP.

“We intend to maintain and, where appropriate, enhance current security arrangements,” the company said in a statement. “It is very much business as usual for the P&O terminals” in America.