December 16, 1974
Page 40058
AMENDMENT OF THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK ACT – CONFERENCE REPORT
The Senate continued with the consideration of the report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 15977) to amend the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945, and for other purposes.
Mr. ROBERT C. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. SCHWEIKER) to offer a motion to recommit the Eximbank conference report. I understand that this is his wish.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? The Chair hears none, and it is so ordered.
Mr. SCHWEIKER. Mr. President, we will not take much time. We appreciate the indulgence of the Members of the Senate.
It is my intention immediately to move to recommit this bill. Let me stress it is a $25 billion, 4-year bill. Many Members have not realized its impact. Because this bill does not address itself to the Soviet energy deal that is pending or to Senator PROXMIRE's amendment, I move to recommit the bill.
Mr. CHURCH. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. SCHWEIKER. I yield.
Mr. CHURCH. I wonder whether the Senator from Pennsylvania would modify his motion to recommit with instructions to the Senate conferees to insist upon the retention of the Proxmire-Church amendments. Otherwise, I see very little reason for another conference to take place; because these amendments are the heart of the resistance in the Senate to the conference report, a resistance which has twice led to the defeat of this cloture effort.
I hope that if we are going back to conference, it is with the clear understanding that, at least with respect to these two amendments, the Senate conferees will be guided by the instructions of the Senate to insist upon their retention.
Mr. SCHWEIKER. Mr. President, I am pleased to modify my amendment as the distinguished Senator from Idaho has suggested.
Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. DOMENICI). The question is on agreeing to the motion of the Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. SCHWEIKER. I yield.
Mr. PROXMIRE. Because the Senate has voted twice against cloture and because the conferees are in a strong position to make progress on this, especially with the instructions suggested by the Senator from Idaho, I hope the Senate will vote to refer the Eximbank conference report back to the conference, so that we can act on it promptly and bring to the Senate a true compromise between the Senate and the House positions.
Mr. PASTORE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. PROXMIRE. I yield.
Mr. PASTORE. Exactly what is the instruction – to do what?
Mr. PROXMIRE. To insist upon two amendments. Amendment No. 1 is that the Eximbank be placed in the budget on, say, October 1, 1976, or some such date.
Instruction No. 2 is that on any kind of loan to the Soviet Union exceeding $25 million., involving oil, petroleum, fossil fuel, there be prior approval by Congress.
Mr. STEVENSON. Mr. President. I opposed the motion to recommit previously, because it is quite evident to me, having been through two conferences with the House, that the most the Senate can gain from another conference is not the so-called Church amendment but the amendment offered by the Senator from Wisconsin, which would include the Eximbank in the unified budget, effective October 1, 1976. The budget committees of Congress are examining this question and will have recommendations which Congress can act upon before October 1, 1976.
So it was with the feeling that we should defer action on this question until the budget committees had acted that I opposed the motion previously.
I ask the Senator from Maine at this point what his views are on that question. It may guide me and other Members of the Senate with respect to the vote on this motion.
Mr. MUSKIE. I say to the distinguished Senator from Illinois that in the development of the budget reform legislation, this issue was raised.
In all frankness, I was on the side of the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. PROXMIRE) on this issue with respect to all lending agencies that were then and are now outside the budget. Nevertheless, it was the consensus of the committee at the time that there are so many unresolved questions with respect to this matter that the resolution which was adopted called for a study by the Committee on the Budget. And we are charged by the budget reform legislation to report to Congress on the merits of the very proposal that is now before us in the form of these instructions to the conference committee.
Since the effective date is October 1976, which is not inconsistent in terms of time, the Committee on the Budget can well look at this evidence of the Senate's desire, whatever that is, in developing its study.
It does not seem to me at this point that the instructions to the conference committee supported by the Senator from Wisconsin and study by the Committee on the Budget are that inconsistent.
For purposes of expediting consideration of this matter, I am inclined now to vote to recommit, even though the other day I voted against it for the reasons that the Senator from Illinois has stated.
I see no obstacle here. I think we are going to work our will one way or another on this question of bringing the Export Import Bank under the unified budget. We can begin the process now as well as later, as far as I am concerned.
Mr. STEVENSON. Mr. President, with that clarification by the Senator from Maine, and with the instruction offered by the Senator from Idaho to the Senate conferees to insist upon both of the amendments, the Proxmire amendment and the Church amendment, I intend to support this motion to recommit.