By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Congress has passed legislation that would accelerate arms export licensing for the United Kingdom and Australia but not waive the license requirements as mandated under bilateral agreements with the United States.

The provision is part of the final defense authorization bill for the fiscal year that began October 1. The measure was passed by the House of Representatives and Senate October 9 just before both chambers recessed until after the November elections.

President Bush is expected to sign the 995-page bill into law.

The original Senate-passed bill would have simply waived license requirements for certain arms exports to the two important U.S. allies, but House members opposed that measure. The final House-Senate compromise would not waive licensing but would instead expedite the license-approval process.

The final version leaves members of Congress divided. Representative Henry Hyde, Republican chairman of the House International Relations Committee, praised the compromise for giving preferential treatment in the licensing process to what he called the two closest U.S. allies in the war on terrorism.

"By requiring regulations to accelerate export licenses for these countries -- rather than eliminating licenses as some had proposed -- this provision establishes exactly the right balance," Hyde said in House debate.

"We will wisely maintain control and supervision over weapons shipped through commercial channels while the war on terrorism continues," Hyde said. "But we require the State Department to do it rapidly and ensure that longstanding allies who fight alongside our armed forces are always at the head of the line."

Senator Richard Lugar, Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, however, viewed the compromise provision as containing "failings," including violation of the bilateral agreements. Those failings need to be corrected by Congress, he said.

"This may well harm our bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom," Lugar said in Senate debate.

The bilateral agreements negotiated with Australia and the United Kingdom, not yet approved by Congress, would waive U.S. export license requirements for certain exports only to a finite group of U.S.-approved end users.

The compromise provision would apply to all arms exports requiring a license to all end users in the United Kingdom and Australia.

It would expedite license processing in part by preventing agencies other than the Department of State, such as the Homeland Security and Justice departments, from reviewing license applications except for instances when the export contains classified information or where other "exceptional circumstances" apply. The State Department would make the licensing decision in consultation with only the Defense Department. Lugar objected to this part of the provision as well.

"This language could do great harm to our government's ability to provide necessary and complete interagency review of munitions license applications," Lugar said.

Dropped from the final defense authorization bill were a number of controversial provisions passed by the House:

-- A denial of Defense Department procurement contracts to foreign companies that sell to China weapons for which the United States requires export licenses;

-- A requirement that the Defense Department to initiate official exchanges with Taiwan to improve Taiwan's defense against China;

-- Tightened export controls on weapons technology to China; and

-- A prohibition of the president ever exempting export licensing requirements on significant military equipment.