A House-Senate conference committee has extended arms sales and credits to Israel, due to expire Dec. 31, until June 30, 1977. The 18-month extension was contained in a $31.2 billion bill authorizing arms purchase by the Department of Defense which was made public today by the conference committee. Congress may approve the bill this week and send it to President Ford for his signature.
The House-Senate conference committee had been appointed to work out the differences between the two bodies in the bill, including the arms sale to Israel. The Senate had approved an extension of arms sales to Israel while the House had not. The Senate approval was over the objections of Sen. John Stennis (D. Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who said that the Israeli sale was outside the jurisdiction of his committee.
The conference committee report today listed the House members as registering “serious reservations” about the; extension to Israel because they believed the proposal should not have been in the weapons bill and should be considered by the committees dealing with foreign affairs. But Senate members argued that failure to approve the extension “might be construed as unwillingness of the Congress to maintain the status quo in the Middle East.” The House members “reluctantly” agreed to give in to the Senate position, but the extension date was changed from Dec. 31, 1977 to June 30, 1977.
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