[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 144 (Thursday, October 6, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 6, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  AUTHORIZING THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES TO PROVIDE 
   FINANCING RELATIVE TO THE EXPORT OF CERTAIN DEFENSE ARTICLES AND 
                                SERVICES

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to 
take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 4455) to authorize the 
Export-Import Bank of the United States to provide financing for the 
export of nonlethal defense articles and defense services and primary 
end use of which will be for civilian purposes, with a Senate amendment 
thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The Clerk read the Senate amendment, as follows:

       Senate amendment: Strike out all after the enacting clause 
     and insert:

     SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE FINANCING FOR THE EXPORT OF 
                   NONLETHAL DEFENSE ARTICLES OR SERVICES THE 
                   PRIMARY END USE OF WHICH WILL BE FOR CIVILIAN 
                   PURPOSES.

       (a) In General.--Section 2(b)(6) of the Export-Import Bank 
     Act of 1945 (12 U.S.C. (b)(6)) is amended by adding at the 
     end the following:
       ``(I)(i) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a transaction 
     involving defense articles or services if--
       ``(I) the bank determines that--
       ``(aa) the defense articles or services are nonlethal; and
       ``(bb) the primary end use of the defense articles or 
     services will be for civilian purposes; and
       ``(II) at least 15 calendar days before the date on which 
     the Board of Directors of the Bank gives final approval to 
     Bank participation in the transaction, the Bank provides 
     notice of the transaction to the Committees on Banking, 
     Finance and Urban Affairs and on Appropriations of the House 
     of Representatives and the Committees on Banking, Housing, 
     and Urban Affairs and on Appropriations of the Senate.
       ``(ii) Not more than 10 percent of the loan, guarantee, and 
     insurance authority available to the Bank for a fiscal year 
     may be used by the Bank to support the sale of defense 
     articles or services to which subparagraph (A) does not apply 
     by reason of clause (i) of this subparagraph.
       ``(iii) Not later than September 1 of each fiscal year, the 
     Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation 
     with the Bank, shall submit to the Committees on Banking, 
     Finance and Urban Affairs and on Appropriations of the House 
     of Representatives and the Committees on Banking, Housing, 
     and Urban Affairs and on Appropriations of the Senate a 
     report on the end uses of any defense articles or services 
     described in clause (i) with respect to which the Bank 
     provided support during the second preceding fiscal year.''.
       (b) Report to the Congress.--Section 2(b)(6)(H) of the 
     Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 (12 U.S.C. 635(b)(6)(H)) is 
     amended by inserting ``or described in subparagraph (I)(i)'' 
     before the period at the end of the first sentence.
       (c) Period of Effectiveness.--The amendments made by this 
     section shall remain in effect during the period beginning on 
     the date of enactment of this Act and ending on September 30, 
     1997.

     SEC. 2. PROMOTION OF EXPORTS OF ENVIRONMENTALLY BENEFICIAL 
                   GOODS AND SERVICES.

       (a) In General.--The first section 11(b) of the Export-
     Import Bank Act of 1945 (12 U.S.C. 635i-5(b)) is amended--
       (1) by inserting before ``The Bank shall'' the following:
       ``(1) In general.--'';
       (2) in the first sentence, by inserting before the period 
     ``(such as exports of products and services used to aid in 
     the monitoring, abatement, control, or prevention of air, 
     water, and ground contaminants or pollution, or which provide 
     protection in the handling of toxic substances, subject to a 
     final determination by the Bank, and products and services 
     for foreign environmental projects dedicated entirely to 
     the prevention, control, or cleanup of air, water, or 
     ground pollution, including facilities to provide for 
     control or cleanup, and used in the retrofitting of 
     facility equipment for the sole purpose of mitigating, 
     controlling, or preventing adverse environmental effects, 
     subject to a final determination by the Bank)''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) Limitations on authorization of appropriations.--In 
     addition to other funds available to support the export of 
     goods and services described in paragraph (1), there are 
     authorized to be appropriated to the Bank not more than 
     $35,000,000 for the cost (as defined in section 502(5) of the 
     Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990) of supporting such 
     exports. If, in any fiscal year, the funds appropriated in 
     accordance with this paragraph are not fully utilized due to 
     insufficient qualified transactions for the export of such 
     goods and services, such funds may be expended for other 
     purposes eligible for support by the Bank.''.
       (b) Technical Correction.--The Export-Import Bank Act of 
     1945 (12 U.S.C. 635 et seq.) is amended by redesignating the 
     second section 11 (12 U.S.C. 635i-8) as section 14.

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Senate amendment be considered as read and 
printed in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the original request 
of the gentleman from Massachusetts?
  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, this Member 
does not intend to object, but wishes to express his support for the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank] in requesting that this 
legislation be considered under a unanimous consent request.
  This legislation, H.R. 4455, introduced by this Member, passed the 
house by voice vote under suspension of the rules on August 8, 1994. 
Yesterday, the Senate passed this measure under unanimous consent with 
a slight clarification of the language added by the Representative from 
Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy]--and with his consent--which encourages the 
Export-Import Bank to promote the export of environmentally beneficial 
goods and services.
  Mr. Speaker, this Member would like to commend the gentleman from 
Massachusetts [Mr. Frank], the Chairman of the International 
Development, Finance, Trade, and Monetary Policy Subcommittee, for his 
hard work in getting this legislation passed. In addition, this Member 
would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member of the full 
Banking Committee, Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Leach, for their support and 
assistance in moving this legislation to the floor today with the 
unanimous, bipartisan support of the Committee on Banking, Finance and 
Urban Affairs. And finally, this Member would like to commend the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy] for his valuable 
contribution to this legislation.
  The principal purpose of the bill is to permit the Export-Import 
Bank, which now cannot finance any defense good and service unless it 
is used solely for civilian purposes or is used primarily for 
antinarcotics purposes, to consider financing for defense goods and 
services that are nonlethal but only in the narrow set of circumstances 
when the unquestionably primary use will be for civilian purposes. 
Without this legislation, we do not have a U.S. Government export 
finance program that can accommodate dual-use items that are used 
primarily for civilian purposes.

  Thus, the bill provides a narrow exception to the current law. This 
Member does not consider the Eximbank to be an appropriate agency for 
financing defense sales for primarily military purposes nor for sales 
of lethal items. Many other Members share this view.
  An example of an item which cannot now be financed by Eximbank, but 
which would be permitted if this bill is passed, is radar for air 
traffic control systems, if the radar feeds into both civilian and 
military air traffic control systems. The bill would allow such export 
sales to be considered for Eximbank financing as long as the primary 
use is for civil air traffic control. It does not make sense to cede to 
our trade competitors the whole field of high-technology dual-use 
electronics when the military use or involvement is clearly secondary 
and subsidiary to the civilian use. This step is consistent with the 
direction of conversion that many defense industries are seeking and 
being encouraged to pursue, and the current inflexible policy impedes 
export sales of such nonlethal dual-use items that are destined 
primarily for civilian purposes.
  Mr. Speaker, again this Member would like to thank the Chairman, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank], and a number of other 
Members, including Appropriations Chairman Obey and Representatives 
Kennedy and Watt, for their assistance and that of their staff in 
crafting amendments to the original bill in a form that apparently 
satisfies their concerns about oversight, concerns about crowding out 
of other lending, and concerns about guarding against abuse. Adoption 
of this bill will help bolster U.S. exports of dual-use goods for 
primarily civilian purposes and create and sustain good, high skill 
jobs in the United States.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BEREUTER. I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts, under my reservation of objection.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I would point out that this is very important from the 
standpoint of defense conversion. What this bill does is to say, among 
other things, to American companies that have been active in the 
defense business, that if they have nonlethal material which might deal 
with environmental sensing, which could deal with transportation, which 
could deal with a whole range of other things, if it is not lethal and 
it has a potential military use but is in fact sold for civilian use, 
this will now regularly be allowed to receive funding from the Export-
Import Bank. We have very strict rules right now which interfere with 
the ability of many companies that are trying to convert from defense 
to civilian international sales, and this will clear it up.
  Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Bereuter] is to 
be commended for bringing this forward. It also includes language that 
my colleague from Massachusetts offered to encourage the sale of 
environmental equipment with Export-Import Bank funding, and we believe 
it will be very useful. I hope that the bill will be passed.
  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, continuing my reservation of objection, I 
thank the gentleman for his comments. The reporting requirements to the 
committees of Congress are very substantial and complete and 
appropriate. Indeed, this will help our defense industries to make the 
conversion to civilian uses.
  Mr. Speaker, with these comments, I withdraw my reservation of 
objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the initial request of 
the gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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