Mr. Speaker. on October 3. when the Ways and Means Committee reported out the trade bill. the committee voted to request a closed rule waiving all points of order and permitting the House to vote only on titles IV and V. A week before that final vote and without prior noticealthough the freedom of emigration amendment relating to favored nation status and credits was before the committee for 7 monthsa point of order was raised against that portion of the amendment relating to credits. On September 26. the point of order was sustained by the chairman and by the committee on a 12 to 12 vote. The unprecedented point of order was not made to purify the procedure process. since the bill as reported was subject to numerous points of order. Points of order ignored by the committee and on which the committee requests a waiver involve the jurisdiction of the Rules Committee. the Foreign Affairs Committee. the Judiciary Committee. the Government Operations Committee. the Education and Labor Committee. the Banking and Currency Committee. the Public Works Committee. and the House Administration Committeealmost no committee is overlooked. I do not concede that the language of the freedom of emigration amendment relating to credits encroaches upon the jurisdiction of another committee. It refers to the issue of credits generally as they affect trade policy. As we discovered last year. credits are to trade what bread is to butteryou cannot have one without the other. The point of order was interjected. because of opposition to the substantive effect of the legislation which would bar credits to nonmarket economy countries unless the President first determines that discrimination does not exist with respect to emigration. The omission of the sections on credits shatters the amendment. MFN is largely a matter of "status." All the major deals and agreements of the past year and a half took place without MFN.
Keywords matched
emigration