*EPF310 09/05/01
Early Vote Indicates Support for Export-Control Reform Bill
(Administration letter reiterates support) (650)
By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Senate supporters of an export-control reform bill have won an early test vote by a wide margin hours after the Bush administration reiterated its support for the legislation.

Late September 4, the first day of Senate debate on the Export Administration Act (EAA), senators voted 74-19 to defeat an amendment that would have added exceptions to a strict 30-day timetable for licensing decisions on exports of advanced technology.

The amendment sponsored by Senator Fred Thompson, a Tennessee Republican, would have let certain federal agencies delay the licensing decision "due to the complexity of the analysis" or "because of the potential impact on the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States."

Senators opposed to the amendment argued that it would cripple the deadline disciplines of the bill, making delays the rule rather than the exception.

Opponents of the bill include Thompson and other Republicans who were replaced as committee chairmen when the Democrats took control of the Senate. Thompson headed Governmental Affairs; Jesse Helms, Foreign Relations; John Warner, Armed Services; Richard Shelby, Intelligence, and John McCain, Commerce.

Most Senate Democrats and Republicans support the bill, however. A September 4 letter to Senate leaders from Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans reiterated Bush administration support for it as well.

"President Bush strongly supports the bill as passed by the Senate Banking Committee and wants to move forward in this important area," the letter says. "We urge you to support S. 149 so that the President will be able to sign a new export control law soon."

The Banking Committee bill would replace the Cold War-era EAA, which lapsed in 1994. In 2000 Congress passed a one-year extension of the old law, but it lapsed again August 20.

For now legal authority for the export-control system rests on an emergency law that has been challenged in U.S. courts.

The EAA controlled exports of what is called dual-use technology -- that is, commercial technology having military applications such as computers and machine tools.

Attempts to pass export-control reform failed repeatedly during the 1990s over divisions in Congress between business interests on one side and military, security and intelligence interests on the other.

The Banking Committee bill would generally eliminate U.S. export controls on mass-market items and items available from foreign sources although it would give the president broad authority to maintain any such control for national security reasons.

It would sharply increase penalties for EAA violations and seek to promote negotiation of stronger multilateral agreements on export controls.

"If a technology is available on a mass market basis, if you can buy it all over the world, it is too late to protect it," said Senator Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican sponsor of the bill. "So we propose building a higher wall around a smaller number of items. That is the logic of this bill."

Opponents of the bill such as Senator Helms argued, however, that it would weaken national security.

Helms said the bill "was written in fact by the business community to maximize future sales to Communist China and to other such countries that represent the highest risk of technology diversion and proliferation.

"Make no mistake about it, this legislation will enable dangerous regimes around the world to arm themselves through the use of the best dual-use technology America has to offer," Helms said.

While likely to pass the Senate, the Banking Committee EAA bill faces less certainty in the House of Representatives. Republican and Democratic leaders on the House International Relations Committee have expressed reservations about the bill.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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