Congress Expected to Extend Anti-boycott Act for 3 Years

The Export Administration Act which embodies provisions against the Arab boycott that discriminates against American companies doing business with Israel or are owned or managed by Jewish Americans is expected to be extended for another three years without change by Congress.

The act, which expires Dec. 30, has encountered no serious opposition or urgings for amendments in the hearings conducted so far and it has been praised by Secretary of Commerce Juanita Kreps, the Business Roundtable which is comprised of the 150 largest corporations in the United States, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and the American Jewish Congress.

Kreps told the Senate Banking Committee which is chaired by Sen. William Proxmire (D. Wise.) that she strongly supports the measure and that it has been working well. The committee was advised by other witnesses that the so-called Ribicoff amendments adopted in the 1976 tax bill that affect the boycott provisions be made to conform with the act’s provisions for uniformity in the laws. The Roundtable and the three major Jewish organizations have agreed on the extension of the act and not to press for any amendments to it.

The Proxmire committee and other Senate panels interested in the measure must report their views to the floor of the Senate by May 15. Thereafter, the bill would be considered in the usual legislative process. Bath Houses must concur before the Congressional legislation is sent to the President for his signing into law.

URGE EXTENSION OF PROVISION

The three Jewish agencies, in a joint letter to Proxmire and Rep. Jonathan Bingham (D. NY), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee which has jurisdiction of the measure, stated.

“Although not all our original objectives were fully reflected in this compromise legislation and the ensuing regulations, we remain hopeful on the basic of early evidence that these provisions, along with other statutory safeguards, can provide an adequate protective framework against unwarranted foreign discriminatory coercion. At present, we believe current anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Act should be extended without change while ongoing monitoring and evaluation determines more fatly their effectiveness.”

Thomas Murphy, chairman of General Motors and the chairman of the Business Roundtable, wrote that “the anti-boycott provisions of the law represent a compromise, and as such they necessarily fall short in some respects of what we regard as legitimate business and trade objectives. Nevertheless, in the light of our experience so far, we cannot say that the legislation has not lived up to its characterization by President Carter, on May 3, 1977, as reflecting a ‘reasonable balance between the need for stringent controls over the undesirable impact on Americans of foreign boycotts and the need to allow continuation of American business relations with countries engaging in such boycotts.”