The subcommittee, headed by Rep. John Moss (D. Cal.) had subpoenaed the documents last July 28 and threatened to cite Morton for contempt of Congress when he refused, to deliver the documents, arguing that the law required him to respect their confidentiality. The subcommittee approved the motion for contempt last month.
Morton yesterday agreed to comply with a formula under which he would submit the documents in accord with rules of Congress on confidentiality. The full Commerce Committee agreed, 12-0, to that formula which was offered by Reps, John Heinz (R. Pa.) and Timothy Wirth (D.Colo).
The subcommittee is investigating charges of complicity by U.S. firms with Arab boycott demands that they not do business with Israel and also help the boycott by providing information on other American firms that do trade with Israel or have Jewish ownership or management.
SOME 15,000 REPORTS FILED
William Rhatican, assistant to Morton and communications director for the Commerce Department, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that it would take “a day or so” for reproduction of the documentation and delivery to the committee. He estimated the reports filled by companies is more than five years totalled between 12,000 and 15,000 each containing three or four pages.
Rhatican said he did not know how many firms had submitted reports and that he did not think anyone knew. He said the reports extended from November, 1970 through yesterday, which would cover the time before the Arab oil embargo for about two years and for about two years since the embargo.
Morton, in a statement, said he was “truly gratified” that Moss and he had been able to agree on a course of action which will remove the threat of a contempt citation “for upholding the law,” while “honoring confidentiality of business and proprietary information entrusted to me as Secretary of Commerce,” Moss had written Morton that the documents would be “received in executive session and the committee’s handling will be fully responsible and will be in consonance with their asserted confidentiality.”
The JTA learned meanwhile that Morton will probably remain Secretary of Commerce until Feb. 1 instead of to the end of this month because his successor-designate, Elliot Richardson, has returned to London to complete his commitments as the U.S. Ambassador there. Richardson expects to return to Washington soon after Jan ### to work with Morton before being sworn in as Secretary at the end of January.
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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.
