Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411170112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A18 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Their efforts came a day after Jesse Helms, chairman-to-be of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hinted he would hinder the administration's foreign policy initiatives if President Clinton pressed ahead on the GATT vote, scheduled for Dec. 1.
Shortly before Gore spoke, Newt Gingrich, the next House speaker and a supporter of the pact to slash world tariffs, said he was ``very, very concerned'' about its prospects in the Senate.
Gore said at a news conference organized by businesses supporting the trade agreement: ``The Congress will decide whether the United States will continue to lead the world in global economic issues or not. That's really what it comes down to.''
Gore, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen all said that the pact, negotiated under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, must be approved this year by the lame-duck Democratic Congress.
``It is abundantly clear that a delay of the GATT would definitely kill the GATT ... and hurt our country immeasurably,'' Gore said.
Gore, flanked by Budget Director Alice Rivlin, White House Economic Adviser Laura Tyson, U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor and senior lawmakers, said delay of even six months would reduce U.S. economic output after 10 years by $70 billion and block creation of 25,000 jobs.
``I don't know why any member of Congress would want that on his or her record,'' Gore said.
Gingrich, R-Ga., sent a letter to Clinton repeating his commitment to work toward ``a bipartisan majority overwhelmingly approving'' GATT in the House on Nov. 29.
The letter also was signed by the outgoing speaker, Rep. Thomas Foley, D-Wash.; the outgoing majority leader, Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.; and the outgoing minority leader, Rep. Bob Michel, R-Ill.
Republican Sen. Bob Dole, expected to be majority leader in the new Senate, has said he is predisposed to support GATT and would prefer to vote this year. However, because legislation implementing the agreement cannot be amended, he is seeking administration support for separate legislation early next year.
That bill would strengthen the ability of the United States to withdraw from the accord if U.S. interests were harmed. It also would address a controversial deal that was struck with three communications companies to give them a discount on valuable licenses to develop the next generation of wireless telephone systems.
Kantor, who had accompanied Clinton to Indonesia for a Pacific trade summit, said he planned to meet with Dole. He said the GOP leader's suggestions would be ``considered carefully.''
Helms, R-N.C., and Sens. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, wrote a letter last week urging Dole to seek delay of the accord. They said it would cut tariff revenues by $31 billion over 10 years without fully replacing them.
On Tuesday, Helms released his letter telling Clinton that presidential support for a delay would ``have an exceedingly positive effect on my making certain that the administration positions on all foreign policy matters ... will be considered fully and fairly.''
Oregon Sen. Bob Packwood, senior Republican on the Finance Committee, discounted the possibility that Helms' position would sway other senators, pointing out that textile firms in North Carolina oppose GATT because it phases out trade protections for the industry over 10 years.
``We all understand representing your own state,'' Packwood said.
by CNB