NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Bush Administration is pushing ahead with a proposed change in Department of Transportation rules that will allow more foreign ownership of U.S. airlines, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal said the proposal, which Congress already voted to block in the wake of the Dubai Ports World controversy, will become effective through a rule change by the end of August - in time for European transportation ministers to consider it at their scheduled October meeting.

The Bush administration is hoping to entice the European transportation ministers into signing off on an "open-skies" agreement which would deregulate U.S. air traffic over the Atlantic, the newspaper reported.

The administration hopes Congress will not reject the rule once finalized, according to the Journal. The proposal rejected in Congress last month by a 291-137 vote was opposed by airlines that feared the competition it would bring and labor unions worried that the industry's better jobs would be farmed out overseas.

The Department of Transportation received 6,000 comments on the proposed rule, but plans to issue a final rule by next month, the paper said.

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