VOTE IS SET ON ARMS LOANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP69B00369R000100240017-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 13, 2004
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: August 9, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

1A31153~0T?', Pcv~~
ApAroved e or Release 2004/05/05 : CIA-RDP69B00369R000100240017-1
Vote Is Sit on Arms Loans
By Robert C. Albright after a lively debate over
Washington Post Staff Writer Whether the Adminstration
A fight to deny the Export vi ithheld details of the arms
.import Bank authority to financing from Congress.
nake loans for arms purchases Sen. Allen J. Ellender (D.
)y underdeveloped countries
Lathered momentum in the
>enate yesterday.
A showdown vote on an
amendment to bar further ex-
:eni,ion of such credit was
scheduled for 2:15 p.m. today
Although the Pentagon has
made $604 million in such
loans over the last two fiscal
years, from lines of credit ad-
vanced by the Export-Import
Bank, Ellender said he was
to the Export-Import Bank ex-jadvised of it only last year
tension bill, called it "back
door financing" and Sen.
Frank C h u r c h (D-Idaho)
charged that a "blindfold" had
been clapped over Congress.
by Harold F. Linder, presi-
dent of the Bank, while on a
tripe to Chile.
Sen. Edmund S. Muskie
(D-Maine), manager of the
E x p o r t-Import Bank bill,
maintained, however, that the
information has been avail-
able for nearly three years to
those who read committee' re-
ports. Muskie? said Export-Im-
port Bank participation in the
arms financing was first dis-
closed in a House Foreign Af-
fairs Committee report in
1965, and further details have
been disclosed since.
Muskie acknowledged to
newsmen, however, that Ad-
ministration spokesmen in ef-
fect had "apologized" to his
own Senate Banking Commit-
tee for not keeping it better
informed.
: The Banking Committee
voted last Wednescia to leave
unimpaired tF e? auThorlty of
he Bank to rpa`ke the loans,
except for this limitation: At
no time could the Bank have
credits outstanding for arms
sales to underdeveloped coun-
tries in excess of 7Y per cent
of the bank's $13.5 billion
total lending authority. There
is now no limit.
Such loans to underdevel-
oped nations are known as
"country-x" loans. No restric-
tions would be on further di-
rect loans by the bank for
arms purchases to so-called
credit~wor'thy countries.
Ellender said his amend-
ment would bar loans only of
the "counVy-x" type, although
he would like to 'bar all arms-
financing credit.
Administration forces face
still another hurdle in their
efforts to keep the authority
of the Export-Import Bank
intact. Sen. Everett ' M. Dirk-
sen (R-Ill.) and 14 Republican
cosponsors introduced an
amendment designed to block
the ,Bank's plan to help fi-
nance the purchase of machine
tools for the billion-dollar Fiat
Approved For Release 2004/05/05 : CIA-RDP69B00369R000100240017-1