The House Ways and Means Committee postponed its crucial vote today on most favored nation treatment for the Soviet Union as Congressional sentiment mounted in favor of the Mills-Vanik Free Emigration Act and its companion measure in the Senate, the Jackson Amendment. Secretary of State-designate Dr. Henry-Kissinger, who was scheduled to testify on the Mills-Vanik measure before the committee today, cancelled his appearance.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Gerald Warren told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he “understood” that the committee had asked Dr. Kissinger to delay his testimony. He had been expected to oppose the Mills-Vanik bill linking MFN status to a relaxation of Soviet emigration policies.
Dr. Kissinger, meanwhile, was confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today for the office of Secretary of State. Sen. George S. McGovern (D.S.D.) cast the sole dissenting vote, saying he did so “on grounds of conscience.”
The House committee’s postponement of its vote on the Mills-Vanik measure, at a closed door meeting this morning, was apparently based on the reported view of its acting chairman, Rep. Al Ullman(D.Ore.), that more time was needed to cool “the emotions” in Congress toward the Soviet Union.
SENATE CONDEMNS USSR
The Senate voted today to condemn the Soviet Union for its harsh treatment of dissident intellectuals and demanded that President Nixon apply pressure during current trade and disarmament talks to end Soviet repression.
The Senate acted on a resolution by Sen. Walter Mondale (D.Minn,) after Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D.Wash.) read a letter yesterday from Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov appealing for passage of the Jackson Amendment. Ullman, who is not one of the original 18 supporters of the Mills-Vanik bill on the Ways and Means Committee, asked a delay on the vote until next week “on the chance that we can get more reason interjected into this discussion.”
At present 16 of the 25 committee members support Mills-Vanik. Two earlier supporters–Reps. James C. Corman, a Democrat, and Jerry L. Pettis, a Republican, both from California–defected. Dr. Kissinger was expected to try to sway more supporters from the bill which the Nixon Administration opposes.
FULL SENATE CONFIRMATION OF KISSINGER EXPECTED
Dr. Kissinger’s near unanimous confirmation by the Foreign Relations Committee is expected to be followed by his confirmation by the full Senate. When Dr. Kissinger appears before the Ways and Means Committee, therefore, it will be as U.S. Secretary of State.
McGovorn said in a statement after the committee voted that he could not back Dr. Kissinger’s confirmation in view of his role in “the needless prolongation” of the Indo-China war and “the tragedy” of the Pakistani-Indian war over Bangladesh. He did not mention Dr. Kissinger’s opposition to the Jackson/Mills-Vanik measures over which they had clashed during the Foreign Relations Committee hearings.
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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.
