(Via Milinet)
Defense News
June 26, 2000
Senate Targets White House Exemption Power
By Colin Clark, Defense News Staff Writer
WASHINGTON - Wary of White House intentions, Congress is
considering
legislation to strip President Bill Clinton of the authority to
offer
arms exemptions to U.S. allies.
The legislation takes the form of arcane language attached to
Senate
Bill S2382, the "Technical Assistance, Trade Promotion and
Anti-Corruption Act of 2000."
Clinton approved 17 arms export reforms May 22, including a
hotly-contested Pentagon proposal to grant arms export licensing
exemptions to qualified companies in select countries. Secretary
of
State Madeleine Albright presented the reforms to her NATO
counterparts at a May 24-25 meeting in Florence, Italy, of NATO
foreign ministers. Allies have pressed hard for the U.S. reforms
to
speed defense technology transfers.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen. Jesse
Helms,
R-N.C., drafted the new legislation to block the White House
plans.
"It ties the president's hands from making decisions he feels
are
necessary in terms of strengthening our relationships with our
allies," Dov Zakheim, a former official in President Ronald
Reagan's
administration, said June 15.
"Secondly, it could hurt our credibility in terms of our
constant
promotion of trans-Atlantic cooperation. Now the Europeans find
that
we, having at long last done something beyond talking, can't do
anything to implement what we agreed to."
A British diplomat here gave credence to Zakheim's analysis.
"If the United States backtracks on this immediately after
Secretary
Albright announced the export reforms to NATO ministers, what
signal
does this send to us about American constancy?" the diplomat
asked.
"It certainly raises questions in my mind."
Zakheim and a House Democratic staff member familiar with the
legislation said the Senate must remember that the exemptions
will be
offered to Britain and Australia.
"Britain and Australia are two of our closest allies and
whatever we
do, we should take account of that fact," Zakheim said.
A senior Pentagon official told Defense News the legislation
posed a
crucial issue for the future of the arms-export reform process,
saying, "The administration's representatives have been talking
to
staff members and congressmen to try and explain what Ms.
Albright
announced in Florence. I hope we can show them how important
this is."
Those license exemptions first would be negotiated with Britain
and
Australia, and then with other NATO allies and Japan.
The bill to prevent the exemptions currently is under review by
the
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Its future
is
uncertain, say defense industry lobbyists and congressional
sources.
"First of all, the bill is caught up in [International Monetary
Fund]
reform and other debt relief issues. We are not certain when
it's
going to move out of committee," a Republican congressional aide
close to the Senate Banking Committee told Defense News.
A U.S. defense industry source familiar with the legislation
said it
"is unlikely to happen, but it will take some work to stop it
from
happening."
Uncertain as Helms' bill may be, defense industry lobbyists are
eager
to kill it.
"This would mean that the only choices available to the
president
would be to add or remove items from the [U.S.] Munitions
[Control]
List, or to come up with new categories of licenses," said Joel
Johnson, vice president for international affairs at the
Aerospace
Industries Association, here.
But William Hartung, defense analyst at the World Policy
Institute, a
think tank in New York, said the bill should move ahead.
"That would be a great thing. This is not the time to make it
easier
for arms to flow across borders, given the number of conflicts
there
are around the world," Hartung said. "If anything, they should
be
tightening the system."
Referring to possible delays within committee, Helms said June 7
that, "if the Banking Committee fails to move forward, I intend
to
propose that this committee move - as freestanding bills -
various
priority initiatives."
Helms is not alone in his opposition to the exemptions. He and
his
counterpart in the House International Relations Committee, Rep.
Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., said in a letter to Albright that they
adamantly oppose arms control exemptions for allied countries.
The March 16 letter was signed by Gilman, Helms, Sen. Joseph
Biden,
D-Del. - the ranking Democratic member of the Senate committee -
and
Rep. Sam Gejdenson, D-Conn., the ranking Democratic member of
the
House committee.
Less draconian legislation to require the president to certify
that a
country has met detailed criteria may be introduced the week of
June
26, Republican and Democratic congressional staff members said,
while
the House committee plans to draw up the legislation the same
week.
"Fundamentally, we want to reach agreement with the
administration on
what criteria they will require the allies to meet," the
Republican
staff member said. "If we can't reach accommodation with them,
then
the committee should set forth the criteria in legislation."
Zakheim said that might be "more workable [than the proposal to
abridge the president's powers], although we have to see exactly
what
form it takes."
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