Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 3489 - Omnibus Export Amendments Act of 1991

(SENT 10/28/91)
(House)
(Gejdenson (D) Connecticut and 21 others)

The Administration supports enactment of legislation renewing the Export Administration Act, and will continue to work with Congress to craft a mutually satisfactory bill. It is essential that such legislation provide flexibility if the United States is to continue its role as a leader in a changing world. This is particularly important as we work to strengthen non-proliferation export controls and shape the response of the Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) to the changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

However, H.R. 3489 contains several seriously objectionable provisions. If they are retained in a bill presented to the President, his senior advisers would recommend he veto it. These include:

— Controls on Telecommunications (section 108), which are intended to require the United States to propose to COCOM that certain controls on telecommunications technology exported to the Soviet Union be removed. The intent of this provision is to undo control levels the United States and its COCOM partners recently agreed are necessary to protect critical security interests. At a time of great turmoil and unpredictability in the Soviet Union, there must be flexibility to determine the control levels that will satisfy continuing national security concerns while supporting the democratization movement in that country.

— Nuclear controls (Title III), which would effectively block nuclear safety cooperation with certain East European countries, the Soviet Union, and Mexico, and would limit nuclear-related dual-use exports to U.S. friends, such as Israel. It would also impose sanctions against foreign nations for carrying out nuclear commerce that is fully compatible with existing multilateral nuclear control regimes. Title III would undermine multilateral efforts to control dual-use exports to nuclear-related end-users and would weaken, rather than strengthen, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

— Section 107, which includes a provision that prohibits controlling mass market software with encryption under the Arms Export Control Act. This provision is of particular national security concern and would micromanage a vitally important Executive branch process.

The Administration also opposes a number of provisions in H.R. 3489 that dictate internal Executive branch procedures and decision processes. (The Administration would oppose any similar amendments.) These include provisions on: exports of satellites for launch by the PRC (section 125), commodity jurisdiction (section 107), terrorist countries (section 119), exports to Eastern Europe (section 105), items intended for civil end-use (section 105(b)), the Commerce Department representative to COCOM (section 116), supercomputers (section 104(b)), and control list review (section 111). These provisions interfere with the President's ability to conduct foreign policy or enter into international agreements, and in some instances are incompatible with important national security interests.

In addition, the Administration opposes, as disruptive and unnecessary: section 123(b), which would create the right to appeal export licensing and commodity classification decisions to an Administrative Law Judge; and earmarking of the International Trade Administration (ITA) appropriation authorization, which would further limit funds for export promotion programs (section 206). Further, the Administration strongly opposes Title IV, relating to economic cooperation projects in China and Tibet, which will undermine our efforts to seek Chinese cooperation and willingness to address our concerns and develop procedures for investigating allegations of prison labor exports.

The Administration also opposes those provisions which intrude on the President's constitutional authority by purporting to mandate or restrict negotiations with foreign governments or countries.

SCORING FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYGO AND DISCRETIONARY CAPS

H.R. 3489 would increase receipts; therefore, it is subject to the pay-as-you-go requirement of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1990. OMB's preliminary scoring estimates of this bill are presented in the table below. Final scoring of this proposal may deviate from this estimate. If H.R. 3489 is enacted, final OMB scoring estimates would be published within five days of enactment, as required by OBRA. The cumulative effects of all legislation on direct spending and revenue will be issued in monthly reports transmitted to Congress.

ESTIMATES FOR PAY-AS-YOU-GO
(receipts in millions of $)