Sen. Russell Long (D.La.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has told President Ford that he will present a trade bill that the President can sign, White House Press Secretary Jerald terHorst disclosed today. TerHorst said he presumed that a trade bill will be passed this year.
The foreign trade bill, with the Jackson Amendment pending, has been tied up for months in the Senate Finance Committee while Senators and the Nixon Administration tried to work out a compromise on the Jackson measure. Long is one of the sponsors of the Jackson Amendment linking U.S. trade benefits for Russia with Soviet emigration policy.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R.NY), a key figure in the negotiations over the Jackson Amendment, said today that the Senate would not agree to any trade bill that did not take into consideration the emigration rights of Russian Jews. “There is no bluffing. If it is not possible to make a responsible, reasonable agreement I am prepared to face the fact that we might not have a trade bill this year,” Javits told a press conference.
Efforts to reach an acceptable formula will resume tomorrow when Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger meets again with Senators Jackson, Javits and Abraham Ribicoff (D.Conn.) Ford will probably attend the breakfast meeting scheduled at the White House.
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