March 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist suspended debate on overhauling lobbying rules after the chamber refused to prevent a vote on blocking a state-owned Dubai company from taking over terminals at six American ports.

The Republicans couldn't come up with the 67 votes needed to prevent the Senate from considering an amendment to the lobbying legislation that would have blocked DP World from running the ports. The 51-47 vote in favor of shutting off debate was mostly along party lines.

After the vote, Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said he would delay action on the lobbying and ethics legislation until the Senate sponsors approved a list of amendments and blocked unrelated proposals. He gave no date for resuming debate, and the sponsor of the ports amendment, Senator Charles Schumer, said he still wanted a vote on that issue.

``We've had a totally unrelated amendment injected, I believe, for partisan purposes,'' Frist said, referring to the ports provision submitted by Schumer, a New York Democrat.

Before the vote, Senator John Warner, a Virginia Republican, took to the floor and said DP World will transfer its ownership of the terminals to a U.S. entity, to defuse the controversy over port security. Warner, reading a statement from Edward Bilkey, the chief operating officer of the company, said the sale was intended to preserve ``the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States.''

Let Debate Go On

Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, urged Frist to allow debate to continue immediately on the lobbying measure, which was brought to the Senate floor in response to the scandal involving Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

``My fear is that once you bump this off, we will not get back to this,'' Dodd said. ``I've seen it happen so many times.''

Dodd said Schumer would withdraw his motion on the ports if Frist promised a separate vote later. Frist refused.

Frist's actions prevented the Senate from possibly joining House Republican leaders in opposition to the ports deal, which has been backed by President George W. Bush, a fellow Republican.

Schumer's amendment yesterday halted the lobbying measure and let to Frist's unsuccessful effort to end debate.

``Doing ethics reform and dealing with the Dubai issue are not mutually exclusive,'' Schumer said before today's vote.

The Senate could address the ports issue in other legislation, allowing Schumer to remove his amendment to the lobbying measure. Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said today he would offer an amendment to the $92 billion legislation for Iraq military operations and Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.

``The Senate is not going to avoid this issue,'' Dorgan said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 9, 2006 15:51 EST