The House voted on 7/30/98 on the Jackson Vanick Waiver. The decision to
support Clinton and the Jackson Vanick Waiver, as it applies to Vietnam
was approved. We lost by a vote of 260 to 163. Since both the Senate and House have to vote against the waiver in order
to stop it, SJR 47 introduced in the Senate by Senator Bob Smith, is now
dead.
(Associated Press and Reuters articles follow) House Backs Vietnam Trade July 30, 1998
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Agreeing with the administration that Vietnam is
making progress in human rights and emigration policy, the House on
Thursday backed President Clinton's decision to promote trade with the
former Asian enemy.
By a 260-163 vote, the House rejected a motion to overturn a
presidential waiver issued last March opening the way for Vietnam to get
U.S. government credits and investment guarantees.
Supporters of the administration policy argued that Vietnam's human
rights record is improving, and that increased U.S. trade can only
foster that trend.
"Their continued exposure to U.S. values on human rights and
religious freedom will promote progress in Vietnam in these objectives
that we all share," said Rep. Bob Matsui, D-Calif.
Opponents questioned Vietnam's commitment to reform and the wisdom of
extending U.S. government credit to a communist government.
"What we are going to be doing is spending tax dollars with this
waiver to guarantee American businessmen to go in and use cheap slave
labor under a dictatorship to manufacture goods to
export to the United States to put our own people out of work. That's
immoral," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.
The administration said the waiver was justified because Vietnam,
while still repressive in its policies, since 1979 has allowed more than
480,000 of its citizens to leave Vietnam legally
for the United States.
"Based on every shred of evidence we have, we've seen a dramatic
improvement in the cooperation of the Vietnamese government with the
United States," said Rep. David Dreier,
R-Calif.
The waiver for government credits is not the same as Clinton's
decision, upheld by the House recently, to extend normal trade relations
to China for another year. Vietnam is one of six
countries in the world that do not have normal trade status with the
United States that would allow them to receive low tariff rates. To
obtain that status, Hanoi first would have to sign a bilateral
commercial agreement with the United States. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House voted Thursday to back President
Clinton's decision to make Vietnam eligible for U.S. trade credit
programs.
The House voted 260 to 163 to reject a measure that would have
overturned a decision by Clinton to waive the Jackson-Vanik law, a 1974
measure barring the U.S. government from giving
trade and investment funding to communist nations that do not allow
their citizens to emigrate or travel abroad freely.
The vote upholds Clinton's decision to allow Vietnam access to U.S.
Export-Import Bank and Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC) and
Department of Agriculture credit programs. The
decision, however, does not grant Normal Trade Relations (NTR), formerly
called Most Favored Nation (MFN) trade with Vietnam.
Vietnam is one of a handful of nations that lack the normal trade
status, which allows goods to enter the country at low tariff rates. But
the two former enemies are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement that
would clear the way for normal U.S. trade relations with Vietnam.
Supporters of Clinton's decision said Vietnam has shown more
cooperation in trying to resolve issues involving prisoners of war and U
.S. soldiers missing in action. They argued it was time
to put the war behind and move on with an effort to improve relations.
"I have emotional baggage, we all have emotional baggage in this
country," said Rep. Doug Bereuter, a Nebraska Republican whose infantry
unit he said suffered casualties in Vietnam.
"But I would suggest it is time to get on and not reverse course on
Vietnam."
But opponents said Vietnam's cooperation and human rights record
had not improved and argued that Clinton's decision to waive Jackson-
Vanik should be overturned.
"The fact that he is asking us to waive the restrictions of Jackson
-Vanik mean that the communist Vietnamese are not meeting the moral
standards that we set," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California
Republican who sponsored the resolution to reject Clinton's decision.
"So all of this talk about all of the progress that we have heard about
going on in communist Vietnam is so much baloney."
By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer
The bill is H.J.Res. 120.
