14 September 2000 Senate Sweeps Away Proposed Amendments to China PNTR Bill by Steve La Rocque Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- Supporters of H.R. 4444, the bill that would grant China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status, swept away the last of the proposed amendments to the bill September 14. In a series of roll call and voice votes, those supporting H.R. 4444 defeated amendments ranging from reporting on China's help in accounting for American MIAs and POWs to requiring firms to certify to the Export-Import Bank that they had neither transferred advanced technology to China nor moved production facilities to China. According to Senator William Roth (Republican of Delaware), all amendments have been dealt with by the Senate, and that body will now debate the bill for two days, with a vote scheduled for the afternoon of September 19. Roth, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, noted after the votes on the amendments that no further amendments were "in order to H.R. 4444." The next vote, Roth said, "will be on Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. on passage of H.R. 4444." In the face of a range of amendments on various aspects of the U.S.-China relationship, Roth had maintained that any amendment, no matter how well-intentioned, would derail passage of the bill in the 106th Congress as it would force the creation of a conference committee with the House of Representatives to reconcile the Senate bill with the House bill which passed in May. Without amendments, the Senate bill is identical to the House bill. Roth, who along with the Finance Committee's ranking minority member, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat of New York), argued successfully against the amendments, stressed that granting China PNTR status is in America's interest. The Delaware Republican reiterated the point that H.R. 4444 is necessary for the United States to take advantage of the trade openings it has negotiated with China for that nation's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Expanded trade opportunities await the United States from a negotiation with China regarding its entry into the WTO that had gone on for three U.S. presidential administrations, Roth said. Amendment No. 4134, offered by Senator Ernest Hollings (Democrat of South Carolina), would have required U.S. companies to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the number of employees they had overseas, by country, and a breakdown of imports they purchased. The amendment garnered the support of only six senators, going down to defeat with six "yes" votes versus 90 "no" votes. Senator Robert Smith's Amendment No. 4129, which had started out with six separate divisions, also suffered defeat at the hands of the China PNTR supporters. Division One of the amendment would have required the Congressional-Executive Commission, which H.R. 4444 would establish, to report on the cooperation the Beijing regime is giving to U.S. efforts to find out what happened to MIAs and POWs from conflicts ranging from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Division Four of the amendment would have required the Congressional-Executive Commission to report on progress China is making in establishing environmental laws and implementing them to clean up its environment. The vote on Division One of Amendment No. 4129 was 30 "yes" and 68 "no." The vote on Division Four was 24 "yes" against 74 "no." Senator Hollings' Amendment No. 4135 requiring the President to negotiate with the Chinese if a surplus in cereal and soybeans exports from that country exceeds a certain level went down to defeat with 16 "yes" votes against 81 "no" votes. Amendments No. 4136 and No. 4137, also by Hollings, went down in voice votes. Amendment No. 4136 would have called on the President to enter into negotiations with the Chinese if China runs a trade surplus in advanced technology products with the United States in excess of $5 billion a year. Amendment No. 4137 would require U.S. companies apply to either the U.S. Export-Import Bank or the Overseas Private Insurance Corporation to certify that they have not transferred advanced technology to China nor have they moved production facilities to China. The string of victorious votes against any amendment to H.R. 4444 followed a similar run of votes September 13 when the Senate defeated the following: Amendment No. 4131 by Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat of West Virginia), which would have required safeguards against market disruptions from Chinese exports, with 33 yes votes and 62 no votes; Amendment No. 4129 Division VI of Senator Robert Smith (Republican of New Hampshire), which would have required the Congressional-Executive Commission to report on "organ harvesting" by the Chinese government, with 29 yes votes and 66 votes; Amendment No. 4132 of Senators Fred Thompson (Republican of Tennessee) and Robert Torricelli (Democrat of New Jersey), which would have attached the China Non-Proliferation Act to H.R. 4444, was tabled by a vote of 65-32, thus ending consideration of the amendment thought to be the hardest one to vote down; Amendment No. 4128 of Senator Jesse Helms (Republican of North Carolina), which would have had a Sense of Congress condemning China's policy of forced abortions, received 43 "yes" votes against 53 "no" votes; Amendment No. 4123, also submitted by Helms, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, calling on the Commerce Department to work with U.S. businesses to adopt a code of conduct for operations in China, went down to defeat with 23 "yes" votes and 73 "no" votes; Amendment No. 4138 of Senator Russell Feingold (Democrat of Wisconsin), which would have enhanced the reporting requirements of the Congressional-Executive Commission, went down to an 18-78 defeat on the day it was introduced; and Amendment No. 4120 of Senator Wellstone, regarding detainees and people incarcerated in China for trying to form independent labor unions, also was struck down with 22 "yes" votes against 74 "no" votes. When the scheduled vote on granting China PNTR status takes place September 19, Capitol Hill observers expect that between 70-75 percent of the Senate will back the bill. If that number holds up, it will represent a more overwhelming victory for PNTR supporters than they managed in the House of Representatives, where the bill passed May 24 by a 40-vote margin, 237-197. President Clinton had said that securing passage of a bill granting China PNTR status would be his legislative priority for his final year in office. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Return to the Washington File