Congress sides with Clinton on high tech export controls

WASHINGTON -- Congress is advancing legislation that would fulfill the policy of the Clinton administration to ease export controls on high-performance computers to such countries as China, India and countries in the Middle East.

The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would reduce the time Congress has to review changes in performance thresholds for controls on exports of high-performance computers to about 50 countries. In an amendment to a defense authorization bill, the Senate passed by an 86-11 vote last Wednesday an amendment that would reduce from 180 to 60 days the time Congress has to overturn an administration decision raising the threshold for U.S. exports to a group called Tier III.

This group includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Israel and other Middle East countries, Middle East Newsline reports. The 60-day review is double what the administration had requested.

The Senate has not yet voted on final passage of the underlying defense bill. In May, the House voted 415-8 for the identical computer export provision in its defense bill.

Administration officials said President Bill Clinton will announce this month the next increase in the Tier III threshold.

The legislation reverses a 1997 bill by Congress that required a 180-day review for high-performance computer exports. At the time, Congress was alarmed by reports that these computers were being diverted from intended use in China and Russia.

Today, congressional sources said, both the House and Senate have accepted the argument that U.S. rivals and countries of concern have choices when choosing computers. "If they are not exported from the United States, will get to the world market from Japan, Germany, Holland, and China itself," said Sen. Robert Bennett, the Utah Republican who sponsored the amendment.

The amendment was opposed by Sen. Fred Thompson, a Tennessee Republican, who argued that rival foreign countries could use U.S. high-performance computers to enhance their own nuclear capabilities for use against the United States. Thompson has introduced a bill that would link Chinese trade and investment access to Beijing's fullfillment of pledges to stop proliferation.

"There is another side to the story," Thompson said. "And that is the danger that sometimes is being interjected into the world by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."