The House Democratic caucus has agreed on a resolution postponing the Reagan Administration’s proposed $1.9 billion arms sale to Jordan until March 1, but with more restrictions then contained in the Senate resolution adopted October 24.
While the House resolution has not been made public, a Congressional aide told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that among several additions to the Senate resolution is one requiring President Reagan to resubmit his October 21 notification to Congress of the proposed sale.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee was to have acted on the resolution today but after a 30-minute delay, its chairman, Rep. Dante Fascell (D. Fla.) postponed the meeting until Thursday because he said that several members who wanted to participate could not be present today. If the committee acts favorably, as expected, the resolution is expected to be taken up by the full House next week.
The Senate resolution, which was adopted by a 97-1 vote, mandates that before March 1 “no letter of offer shall be valid with respect to any of the proposed sales to Jordan of advanced weapons systems, including advanced aircraft and advanced air defense systems” described in Reagan’s October 21 notification letter “unless direct and meaningful peace negotiations between Israel and Jordan are underway.”
The Senate resolution was worked out by Sen. Richard Lugar (R. Ind.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with opponents and supporters of the sale, after it became clear that the sale would be rejected since 74 Senators had signed a resolution to disallow it.
In the House there is a similar majority with at least 275 Congressmen having signed a resolution to reject the sale of arms to Jordan. During the Senate debate, Lugar said the resolution could not be amended since this was the agreement of both sides and because the President had agreed to accept it in that way. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D. Conn.) cast the lone vote against the resolution because he wanted an additional paragraph that would “guarantee” the right of the Congress to reject the sale.
Lugar and Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (R. Kans.) stressed that anytime before March 1, if Senators saw a lack of progress in the peace process, they could reintroduce the resolution rejecting the sale.
Testifying before the House Committee’s Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, said this was also the way the Administration read the resolution. But he said that if no action is taken by March 1, then the sale can go through.
If the House resolution is different than the one adopted by the Senate, there would have to be a conference meeting to work out the differences between the two resolutions.
Observers expect this to be completed by November 21,which is the end of the 30-day period by which both Houses must vote to disallow the arms sales, or the Administration can go through with it.
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