Courtesy of My Way News:

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congress was pushing on Friday to finish legislation that would boost security at U.S. ports, but at the last minute lawmakers added provisions to prohibit Internet gambling.

Rushing to finish their work by the weekend to go home and campaign for elections in which control of Congress is at stake, lawmakers were linking up unrelated measures in an effort to get them approved.

The House passed an Internet gambling ban earlier this summer, but the bill had difficulty moving in the Senate. However it was a priority of Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, and attaching it to the popular port security bill appeared aimed at insuring its passage.

Votes were expected by midnight Friday in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Port security advanced as an issue in Congress this year after an outcry over the Bush administration’s decision to allow an Arab company, Dubai Ports World, to buy major U.S. port assets.

House and Senate negotiators agreed late on Thursday on the outlines of the port security legislation. It would authorize $3.4 billion over five years for actions such as installing radiation detectors at the largest U.S. ports.

There were attempts on Friday to add other unrelated amendments, but apart from the Internet gambling provisions, the others were rejected, a top House leadership aide said.

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