Carter’s Shift in Plane Sales Seen As Semantic, Not Substantive

President Carter, in a strategy shift apparently involving language but not substance, has sent his proposals to Congress for sales of warplanes to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But Carter remained committed in principle to the “package” sale.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a meeting tomorrow afternoon to seek to work out a schedule for the required hearings on the proposal. Congress has until May 28 to act on the plan and the sales go into effect automatically unless the House and the Senate by majority vote, act to block the transaction by that date.

Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, in a letter Friday to Sen. Frank Church (D. Ida.), the second ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, suggested that the Carter Administration was no longer insisting that the proposed sales be treated as a package but Administration officials made it plain that the language change did not indicate any substantive change in Carter’s determination to sell planes to Egypt and Saudi Arabia but was simply a move to ease the resistance of Representatives and Senators who oppose the “package” approach.

Vance said, in his letter “in submitting the proposed sales to Congress on the same day, the Administration is not attempting to place conditions or inhibitions on the scope of the Congressional review or action by Congress.”

“Indeed, we understand that the Congress will want to review these important transactions separately and with great care and we stand ready to facilitiate that process,” Vance continued.

But he added: ” I’m sure you will understand that the President must also fulfill his responsibilities for the conduct of foreign affairs, and that this requires that he reserve judgment on the ultimate action to be taken until he has had an opportunity to review the action taken by the Congress on each of the separate certifications.”

REACTIONS TO VANCE’S LETTER

Vance’s letter followed a lengthy meeting between the Secretary and key Senators at which both sides said they wanted to avoid a showdown battle. Some key Senators indicated they were fully aware of the differences between language and substance. Robert

Church said that it appeared from Vance’s letter that the President “has untied the package” but he conceded that there was “a lingering question” of what the President’s position might be. Sen. Jacob J. Javits (R. N. Y.), a vigorous foe of the proposed sale to Saudi Arabia, expressed reservations and disappointment over the Vance letter. Javits said the letter “opens the door slightly, a little bit,” but, he added, “the change is very small. The Administration is sticking by its position, almost intact. It reserves all the President’s options.”

One Administration source said that the world “package” will not be heard again but that the Administration wanted sales approved for all three countries, would fight for them and that Carter “does retain the final option.”