Whether the United States government will arrange to provide six huge transport aircraft to Egypt as a commercial transaction or insist on treating the project as a military transfer and thereby enter into a confrontation with Congress was pondered within the Administration today. The ultimate decision was seen as necessarily coming from President Ford himself and cannot long be delayed.
Three key Senators have proposed to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger that the Administration fulfill its pledge to Egypt by having the Cairo government buy the C-130 planes from the Lockheed Corporation and thereby avoid asking Congress for authorization of the transfer.
Under present law, transfer of equipment to a foreign power designated as military and costing over $25 million is subject to Congressional veto. A commercial sale of military equipment is not yet within Congressional authority. Legislation to that effect is pending.
The compromise originated with Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R.NY) and was suggested to Kissinger by him and by Sens. Hubert H. Humphrey (D. Minn.) and Clifford Case (R.NJ). The “opportunity” to the Administration, Capitol sources told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, would wipe out what they called the “symbolism” of the United States entering into a military supply relationship with Egypt which Israel fears and is strenuously’ opposing.
“The Administration must decide if it wants to give some sugar to (Egyptian President Anwar Sadat or have a confrontation with Congress,” a Capitol source told JTA. The three Senators are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In addition, Humphrey heads the subcommittee on foreign aid which has authorized about a billion dollars in aid to Egypt for the current fiscal year.
Such influential House leaders as Rep. Philip Burton (D. Calif.), head of the House Democratic Caucus, have cautioned the State Department that it will lose the project in the House if it tries to force through a start of a military supply program for Egypt.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
