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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1999, pages 48, 92 Congress Watch Status of Middle East-Related Bills at the Congressional Recess
Issues affecting the Middle East continue to have a low priority with the 106th Congress. This may be just as well, because those legislators who are described (behind their backs) on the Hill as “Israel’s senators and representatives” have continued to introduce bills and resolutions that can be described, at best, as mischievous or, at worst, deeply detrimental to U.S. national interests. However, congressional preoccupation with other issues has also slowed progress on some positive bills and resolutions. One of the few positive items was the reintroduction of a resolution, originally introduced in the 105th Congress but not acted upon, condemning anti-Muslim intolerance and discrimination, and recognizing the contributions of American Muslims, “who are followers of one of the three major monotheistic religions of the world.” The resolution was introduced in the Senate as S.Res. 133 by Senators Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and Larry Craig (R-ID), who were later joined by Senators Chuck Robb (D-VA) and Paul Wellstone (D-MN) as co-sponsors. In the House the resolution was introduced as H.Con.Res. 174 by Reps. David Bonior (D-MI) and Tom Davis (R-VA). There has been no further action on either resolution. Senator Abraham is also circulating for co-sponsorship, but has not yet introduced, a Middle East Peace Resolution. The resolution is a statement of support for past and future U.S.-supported efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East and urges all parties to fulfill their obligations under the Oslo and Wye agreements and to refrain from “any unilateral actions that would undermine the peace negotiations and prejudice the final outcome of the negotiations.” Finally, the resolution urges Lebanon, Syria, and Israel to resume and complete peace negotiations. At the recess, co-sponsors with Abraham were Senators John Chafee (R-RI), John Edwards (D-NC), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Wellstone. Another positive bill, introduced as H.R. 1844 by Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL), would allow for the adjustment of status for certain people who have been granted temporary protected status because of conditions in Lebanon. The bill now has 10 co-sponsors, Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), John Dingell (D-MI), Barney Frank (D-MA), Martin Frost (D-TX), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Steve LaTourette (R-OH), James McGovern (D-MA), Nick Rahall (D-WV), and John Sununu (R-NH), but there has been no further action.
A positive bill that seems to be progressing is the Sanctions Reform Act, described in detail in the June issue of the Washington Report, introduced in the Senate as S. 757 by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) and in the House as H.R. 1244 by Rep. Phil Crane (R-IL). At the recess the Lugar bill had 37 co-sponsors and the Crane bill had 85 co-sponsors. Making less progress, despite concerted support by Arab-American and Muslim-American organizations, is the Secret Evidence Repeal Act, described in great detail in previous issues of this magazine. The original co-sponsors, Reps. Bob Barr (R-GA), Minority Whip Bonior, Tom Campbell (R-CA), and John Conyers (D-MI), have been joined by only 22 additional co-sponsors, Reps. Dingell, Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Kildee, Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), Peter King (R-NY), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), LaHood, Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Greg Meeks (D-NY), Rahall, Lynn Rivers (D-MI), Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX), Thomas Sawyer (D-OH), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Robert Scott (D-VA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Sununu. (In a related action, during House floor debate of the State Department appropriations bill, Campbell offered an amendment that would require that aliens have access to secret information being used against them, but he was later persuaded to withdraw his amendment.) Of minor solace is the fact that the opposite bill, H.R. 1745 sponsored by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), which would provide for the removal of aliens who associate with “known terrorists,” has, at this writing, attracted not a single co-sponsor.
Although Arab American Institute president James Zogby may be right in saying that the debate over U.S. policy toward Jerusalem has entered a more positive phase, a number of Israel’s congressional supporters still can’t resist irresponsible actions and statements on the issue. Perhaps the most egregious action came after President Clinton exercised the waiver provision of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 to avoid moving the U.S. Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that would trigger extremely grave anti-American reaction throughout some 45 Islamic-majority nations. Eighty-four senators signed a letter to Clinton expressing their disappointment that he exercised the waiver provision, because “Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.” Incredibly, the letter went on to proclaim that the waiver provision applies only to the sanctions provisions of the act. The 16 senators who did not sign the letter were Senators Abraham, Joe Biden (D-DE), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Richard Bryan (D-NV), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Chafee, Craig, Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Lugar, Pat Moynihan (D-NY), Craig Thomas (R-WY), Fred Thompson (R-TN), Strom Thurmond (R-SC), John Warner (R-VA), and Wellstone. Meanwhile, in the House, Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ), who can be relied upon to seize any opportunity to try to sabotage the peace process in favor of a “greater Israel,” introduced H.R. 2584, which would amend the Jerusalem Embassy Act to stipulate that construction of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem must begin no later than Dec. 31, 1999, and to delete the presidential waiver provision. The good news is that at the recess the bill had only 13 co-sponsors: Reps. Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Phil English (R-PA), Mark Foley (R-FL), Bob Franks (R-NJ), Gene Green (D-TX), Stephen Horn (R-CA), Rick Lazio (R-NY), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Frank Lucas (R-OK), James Maloney (D-CT), James Rogan (R-CA), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). However, three other negative bills pandering to the Israel lobby on Jerusalem were doing better at gaining co-sponsors. They are:
(Note that these provisions are also included in the Senate version of the State Department Authorization bill, but they may or may not survive the conference committee.)
Two other bills related in one degree or another to the peace process showed some progress: S.Con.Res. 36, described at length in the July/August issue of the Washington Report, is the resolution introduced by Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Moynihan, and Connie Mack (R-FL) “condemning Palestinian efforts to revive the original Palestine partition plan of Nov. 29, 1947, and condemning the U.N. Commission on Human Rights for its April 27, 1999 resolution endorsing Palestinian self-determination on the basis of the original Palestine partition plan.” The resolution says that any attempt by the Palestinians to revive U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181 (the partition plan) places the entire peace process at risk and that the peace process must be based on U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338 (ignoring the fact that U.N. resolutions 242 and 338 also call for Israel to withdraw from that part of Jerusalem occupied in 1967). The resolution passed the Senate July 1 and was sent to the House, where it was referred to the International Relations Committee. (A similar resolution in the House, sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), died in committee.) H.R. 1175, sponsored by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) with 100 co-sponsors, requires the secretary of state to continue to raise the matter of missing Israeli soldiers who are dual U.S.-Israeli citizens. The House passed the bill in June and the Senate passed it the day before recess. The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz crowed that now aid to Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority must be “weighed in relation to the compliance of these countries in helping to locate and return these soldiers.” However, Ha’aretz ignored the fact that the Senate version includes an amendment, proposed by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), that removes reference to the three countries, and further softens the language. The two versions have not been reconciled, much less signed. (Comment: Perhaps it is premature to speculate, but, with the exception of the missing soldiers bill which can be viewed as more humanitarian than political, each of the negative bills described above has been referred to the House International Relations Committee and has not been heard from since. Could it be that despite his long love affair with expansionist Israeli Likud ideology the chairman of the committee, Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), has finally realized that a just and honorable conclusion to the Middle East peace process is in Israel’s best interest, as well as serving the U.S. national interest? And that provocative actions by the U.S. Congress do not further the national interests of either?)
The Iran Nonproliferation Act (H.R. 1883) was introduced by Gilman on May 20, and has accumulated 212 co-sponsors. As with a similar bill that was introduced in the previous Congress, this would apply sanctions on persons or countries found to have transferred nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons goods, services, or technology to Iran. As was the case last year, the Clinton administration does not want to see this bill passed, mostly because of its likely negative effects on U.S.-Russian relations, especially cooperation in the International Space Station. According to “NASA WATCH,” a very unofficial Web site reporting on NASA doings, National Security Adviser Samuel (Sandy) Berger has taken a personal interest in seeing that this bill is stalled as long as possible. Mark-up sessions in the House Science and International Relations committees have been postponed at the request of the White House. And the Senate has passed S.Res. 109, introduced on May 27 by Brownback, with six co-sponsors. The resolution condemns the National Islamic Front government in Sudan for its support of terrorism and its continued human rights violations. It calls upon the president to take six specific actions to pressure the NIF government. Shirl McArthur, a retired foreign service officer, is a consultant in the Washington, DC area. |
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