HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

355

1995 T41.7

T41.3 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

A message in writing from the President of the United States was communicated to the House by Mr. Edwin

Thomas, one of his secretaries.

T41.4 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT—

NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION

AGREEMENTS

The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr.

SHAYS, laid before the House a message from the President, which was

read as follows:

To the Congress of the United States:

The United States has been engaged

in nuclear cooperation with the European Community (now European

Union) for many years. This cooperation was initiated under agreements

that were concluded in 1957 and 1968 between the United States and the European Atomic Energy Community

(EURATOM) and that expire December

31, 1995. Since the inception of this cooperation, EURATOM has adhered to

all its obligations under those agreements.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of

1978 amended the Atomic Energy Act of

1954 to establish new nuclear export

criteria, including a requirement that

the United States have a right to consent to the reprocessing of fuel exported from the United States. Our

present agreements for cooperation

with EURATOM do not contain such a

right. To avoid disrupting cooperation

with EURATOM, a proviso was included in the law to enable continued

cooperation until March 10, 1980, if

EURATOM agreed to negotiations concerning our cooperation agreements.

EURATOM agreed in 1978 to such negotiations.

The law also provides that nuclear

cooperation with EURATOM can be extended on an annual basis after March

10, 1980, upon determination by the

President that failure to cooperate

would be seriously prejudicial to the

achievement of U.S. nonproliferation

objectives or otherwise jeopardize the

common defense and security, and

after notification to the Congress.

President Carter made such a determination 15 years ago and signed Executive Order No. 12193, permitting nuclear cooperation with EURATOM to

continue until March 10, 1981. Presidents Reagan and Bush made similar

determinations and signed Executive

orders each year during their terms. I

signed Executive Order No. 12840 in 1993

and Executive Order No. 12903 in 1994,

which extended cooperation until

March 10, 1994, and March 10, 1995, respectively.

In addition to numerous informal

contacts, the United States has engaged in frequent talks with

EURATOM regarding the renegotiation

of the U.S.–EURATOM agreements for

cooperation. Talks were conducted in

November 1978; September 1979; April

1980; January 1982; November 1983;

March 1984; May, September, and November 1985; April and July 1986; September 1987; September and November

1988; July and December 1989; February, April, October, and December

1990; and September 1991. Formal negotiations on a new agreement were held

in April, September, and December

1992; March, July, and October 1993;

June, October, and December 1994; and

January and February 1995. They are

expected to continue.

I believe that it is essential that cooperation between the United States

and EURATOM continue, and likewise,

that we work closely with our allies to

counter the threat of proliferation of

nuclear explosives. Not only would a

disruption of nuclear cooperation with

EURATOM eliminate any chance of

progress in our negotiations with that

organization related to our agreements, it would also cause serious

problems in our overall relationships.

Accordingly, I have determined that

failure to continue peaceful nuclear cooperation with EURATOM would be seriously prejudicial to the achievement

of U.S. nonproliferation objectives and

would jeopardize the common defense

and security of the United States. I

therefore intend to sign an Executive

order to extend the waiver of the application of the relevant export criterion

of the Atomic Energy Act until the

current agreements expire on December 31, 1995.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON.

THE WHITE HOUSE, March 9, 1995.

By unanimous consent, the message

was referred to the Committee on

International Relations and ordered to

be printed (H. Doc. 104–54).

T41.5 SUBPOENA

The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr.

SHAYS, laid before the House a communication, which was read as follows:

Washington, DC, March 7, 1995.

Hon. NEWT GINGRICH,

Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington,

DC.

DEAR MR. SPEAKER: This is to formally notify you pursuant to Rule L(50) of the Rules

of the House that a staff person in my office

has received a subpoena for testimony and

documents concerning constituent casework.

The subpoena was issued by the Middlesex

County Probate and Family Court of the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

After consultation with the General Counsel, I have determined that compliance with

the subpoena is consistent with the privileges and precedents of the House.

Sincerely,

EDWARD J. MARKEY,

Member of Congress.

T41.6 SUBPOENA

The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr.

SHAYS, laid before the House a communication, which was read as follows:

Washington, DC, March 8, 1995.

Hon. NEWT GINGRICH,

Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington,

DC.

DEAR MR. SPEAKER: This is to formally notify you pursuant to Rule L (50) of the Rules

of the House that a member of my staff has

been served with a subpoena issued by the

United States District Court for the Eastern

District of Virginia for materials related to

a civil case.

After consultation with the General Counsel, I have determined that compliance with

the subpoena is consistent with the privileges and precedents of the House.

Sincerely,

KWEISI MFUME,

Member of Congress.

T41.7 PROVIDING FOR THE FURTHER

CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 956

Mr. LINDER, by direction of the

Committee on Rules, called up the following resolution (H. Res. 109):

Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 1(b) of rule XXIII, declare the

House resolved into the Committee of the

Whole House on the state of the Union for

further consideration of the bill (H.R. 956) to

establish legal standards and procedures for

product liability litigation, and for other

purposes. No further general debate shall be

in order. The bill shall be considered for

amendment under the five-minute rule. In

lieu of the amendment recommended by the

Committee on the Judiciary, it shall be in

order to consider as an original bill for the

purpose of amendment under the five-minute

rule an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of H.R. 1075.

That amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. No

amendment to that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except

those specified in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution. Each amendment may be offered only

in the order specified in the report, may be

offered only by a Member designated in the

report, shall be considered as read, shall be

debatable for the time specified in the report

equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject

to amendment, and shall not be subject to a

demand for division of the question in the

House or in the Committee of the Whole. At

the conclusion of consideration of the bill for

amendment the Committee shall rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been adopted. Any Member may demand a separate vote in the

House on any amendment adopted in the

Committee of the Whole to the bill or to the

amendment in the nature of a substitute

made in order as original text. The previous

question shall be considered as ordered on

the bill and amendments thereto to final

passage without intervening motion except

one motion to recommit with or without instructions.

When said resolution was considered.

Mr. LINDER submitted the following

amendment:

Page 2, line 11, insert the following before

the period: ‘‘, provided that the amendments

numbered 1 and 12 printed in that report

shall be considered in the forms specified in

section 2 of this resolution’’; and

At the end of the resolution add the following:

SEC. 2. (a) The amendment numbered 1 in

the report accompanying this resolution

shall be considered in the following form:

Page 7, insert after line 3 the following:

‘‘(c) Notwithstanding any other provision

of law, any person, except a person excluded

from the definition of product seller, engaged in the business of renting or leasing a

product shall be subject to liability pursuant

to subsection (a) of this section, but shall

not be liable to a claimant for the tortious

act of another solely by reason of ownership

of such product.’’.

(b) The amendment numbered 12 in the report accompanying this resolution shall be

considered in the following form:

Page 19 redesignate section 202 as section

203 and after line 19 insert the following: