[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 85 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 85

To express the sense of Congress that the President should exercise the 
temporary waiver authority that an emergency exists under the Merchant 
Marine Act, 1936 and justifying the waiver of cargo preference rates in 
 transporting the $1,600,000,000 in bilateral assistance to Russia as 
 agreed to in the ``Vancouver Package'' between President Clinton and 
              President Yeltsin of the Russian Federation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 22, 1993

Mr. Barrett of Nebraska submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
  which was referred to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
To express the sense of Congress that the President should exercise the 
temporary waiver authority that an emergency exists under the Merchant 
Marine Act, 1936 and justifying the waiver of cargo preference rates in 
 transporting the $1,600,000,000 in bilateral assistance to Russia as 
 agreed to in the ``Vancouver Package'' between President Clinton and 
              President Yeltsin of the Russian Federation.

Whereas the recently formed independent states of the former Soviet Union are 
        struggling to put in place the institutions of democratic government and 
        free market economies;
Whereas the Congress in the Freedom Support Act, enacted into law in the 102d 
        Congress, found that failure to meet the opportunities, presented by the 
        recent developments in the independent states of the former Soviet Union 
        to make a transition to a peaceful and stable international order, 
        ``could threaten United States national security interests and 
        jeopardize substantial savings in United States defense that these 
        developments have made possible'';
Whereas the independent states of the former Soviet Union, especially Russia, 
        need to import agricultural commodities and other products for the 
        health and sustenance of their respective populations and the well-being 
        of the animals in their livestock sector;
Whereas the lack of importation of these agricultural commodities and other 
        products may threaten the stability of the elected governments of these 
        newly independent states, especially Russia, and their future as 
        democratic governments;
Whereas the President of the United States and the President of the Russian 
        Federation announced a bilateral aid package for Russia (referred to as 
        the Vancouver Package) in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 3, 1993, 
        in the amount of $1,600,000,000;
Whereas the President has announced that the food aid assistance to Russia by 
        the United States will take the form of donations and concessional sales 
        of food aid under the Food For Progress Act and section 416 of the 
        Agricultural Act of 1949; and
Whereas problems have arisen with respect to the $1,600,000,000 in bilateral 
        assistance to Russia that are best illustrated by the food aid provided 
        to Russia under the Food for Progress Act and section 416 of the 
        Agriculture Act of 1949 in that such aid will be subject to substantial 
        diminution in volume and value if the cargo preference rate provisions 
        of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, apply to such food aid, inasmuch as up 
        to one-third of the amount of food aid to Russia may be spent on the 
        cost of shipping, and this one-third reduction in the Vancouver Package 
        food aid poses possible dire consequences for the democratic republics 
        in the former Soviet Union, especially Russia, with a resulting 
        emergency situation threatening the stability of the Government of 
        Russia or a possible budget emergency in the United States Government if 
        approximately $250,000,000 must be added to the fiscal years 1993-1994 
        budget deficits to fix this problem: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress declares that the President should exercise the 
temporary waiver authority granted in section 901(b) and 901b of the 
Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 U.S.C. App. 1241(b), 1241(f)) so that the 
$1,600,000,000 in bilateral assistance to Russia, referred to as the 
Vancouver Package, may be effected without endangering the stability of 
the Government or the economy of Russia and without adding to the 
United States budget deficit.

                                 <all>