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Document 553 of 722.

May 24, 2000, Wednesday

SECTION: NEWS;Pg. A-1

LENGTH: 758 words

HEADLINE: House expected to OK trade deal; Supporters of bill win over eight undecided members

BYLINE: Finlay Lewis; COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

BODY:
WASHINGTON -- Supporters of normal trade relations with China appeared on the verge of victory yesterday, as a group of previously uncommitted legislators promised to support President Clinton's plan to liberalize commercial ties with Beijing.

On the eve of today's long-awaited showdown, at least eight additional members of Congress announced they would vote to abandon a 20-year system of annual China trade reviews. Their votes will come in defiance of organized labor's warnings that the trade agreement would set back the cause of democracy and human rights in the world's most populous nation while taking away jobs from Americans.

Still, strategists said the pact's supporters could not claim the necessary 218 votes needed for approval in the House today.

"We're not there yet," said Rep. Robert T. Matsui of Sacramento, the Democratic floor leader on the issue. "But we will be there when the vote occurs."

As lobbying on both sides of the emotional issue intensified, debate on the House floor opened yesterday. Rep. Bill Archer of Texas, a key Republican supporter, told his colleagues that they faced not only the most important issue of this Congress but possibly of their careers.

At the same time, some lawmakers used the high-stakes battle as a way to promote their own agendas.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a two-term Texas Democrat, announced his support of the trade deal after receiving assurances that the federal Environmental Protection Agency would expedite its review of a proposed natural gas pipeline that would benefit his El Paso constituents.

Another example of the horse-trading came yesterday when Clinton and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., announced their agreement on a community renewal plan that would offer subsidies and tax incentives to revive distressed urban and rural areas.

The community renewal plan may have helped the trade bill gain support from the Congressional Black Caucus and Hispanic lawmakers, said Commerce Secretary William M. Daley, the administration's point man for the China trade deal.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, a previously uncommitted Democrat, said the community renewal plan was not a "deal maker" in determining his decision to support the trade bill. But he acknowledged at a news conference that it had impressed him.

Meanwhile, business supporters of the trade bill committed $1 million to a last-minute advertising blitz in the hopes of gaining greater access to the world's largest market comprising 1.2 billion consumers.

The opposition also turned up its pressure. Organized labor deployed its top leaders, including AFL-CIO President John Sweeney; Teamster chief Jimmy Hoffa; and George Becker, president of the United Steelworkers of America. Their target was the shrinking, but critical, number of undecided Democrats and Republicans who might be swayed by an appeal from organized labor.

But, after weeks of high-profile maneuvering and years of congressional debates over trade with China, some suggested that all the lobbying had neared the point of diminishing returns.

"I do think members know where they stand," said Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, the fourth ranking GOP floor leader as chairman of the Republican Conference. "I don't know how much more arm twisting can be done. . . . If the arm twisting hasn't been done by now, I don't know how much good it's going to do."

The floor debate yesterday featured speeches by opponents who echoed organized labor's claims that surrendering the process of annual reviews would deprive the United States of all leverage for pressuring China to improve the way it treats its citizens and to embrace democratic and market reforms.

The deal's backers noted that China, during negotiations last fall with the administration, agreed to open its market to an unprecedented degree to U.S. goods and services as a condition of joining the World Trade Organization.

They argued that the U.S. government made virtually no concessions in return, but that the Chinese offer would be withdrawn if Congress refuses to grant Beijing a permanent normal trade relationship.

The administration and its supporters warn that European competitors would then reap all the benefits of China's trade-opening commitments.

At a news conference, Rep. David Bonior of Michigan, the Democratic whip and his party's leading foe of the deal, declared, "Are you on the side of those struggling for basic freedoms . . . or are you on the side of the multinationals who are only interested in the bottom line?"

GRAPHIC: 2 FLAGS | 1 CHART; 3. ASSOCIATED PRESS; 3. Possible changes in tariffs, import quotas (A-19)

LOAD-DATE: May 26, 2000

Document 553 of 722.


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