The House has adjourned until September without acting on a resolution urging the United States to consider withdrawing from the United Nations General Assembly if Israel is expelled or suspended. The resolution introduced Friday by Rep. Thomas O’Neill (D. Mass), the House Majority Leader, and Rep. John Rhodes (R. Ariz), the Minority Leader, was co-sponsored by 231 of the 435 House members. A vote could come when Congress returns from its recess after Labor Day.
Meanwhile, in a surprise move, the Senate rejected by a slight majority a $31.2 billion appropriations bill for the Department of Defense which included an 18-month extension of the President’s authority to provide Israel with arms and credits. The House had approved the bill earlier. The provision for Israel was not an issue in the bill’s defeat. Sen. Edmund Muskie (D. Maine), who led the successful opposition, said the arms measure threatened to exceed Congressional budget goals set earlier this year.
The appropriations bill will go back after the recess to a Senate-House conference committee which had earlier approved the full bill. The authorization for Israel expires Dec. 31, 1975 and the provision in the appropriations bill would extend it to June 30, 1977.
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