Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-08-17
By ]. A. O'LEARY
Star Staff Writsr

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satellite bill when it met today.
Within two hours after con-
vening at 10 am, the Senate
tabled seven more opposition
amendments, and leaders said
they hoped to pass the bill by
5 pm.
Its approval by an over
whelming majority was as
Sured. The only question still
in doubt was how much longer
a handful of liberal Democrats
opposing the measure would
continue the futile process of
offering amendments which a
bipartisan majority has been
knocking down with regularity
for three days.
If the bill passes today, the
Senate will move on to the ad-
ministration's farm and drug
control bills.
The controversial satellite bill
has been before the Senate off
and-on since mid-July, during
which time a group of between
is and 20 liberal Democrats
have waged a losing fight for
Government ownership of the
American part of a global satel-
lite communications system.
Government Supervision
When the Senate passes the
bill, possibly this afternoon,
both Houses will be on record
for the creation of a private
corporation to develop the
system under close Government
supervision.
Although the Senate version
differs in some details from
the bill which passed the House
354-9, the House is expected
to accept the changes and send
the bill directly to the Presi-
dent.
This is a strong probability
because friends of the private
enterprise plan realize that if
the House took the other al
tentative Of asking for a con-
ference with the Senate on diff
ferences, the liberals would get
another chance to filibuster
the bill to death when the con-
ference report came back to
the Senate.
Having lost their fight for
Government ownership, the lib
erals have spent three days
trying to place added restric-
tons on the private corpora
ton. But under the rarely
used cloture rule. each Senator
has been limited to one hour
of speaking time since. Tuesday
Fearing that any further
amendments might endanger
passage this year, Republican
and Democratic leaders have
resorted to the tabling motion,
which is not debatable, to side
track all amendments.
The liberals reached their
peak strength yesterday when
they polled 81 votes for a civil
rights amendment to require
the satellite corporation to hire
employees without regard to
race. color or creed. But 80
Democrats and "a Republicans
united to pile up 81 votes ir
favor Of tabling the amend.
ment.
Senate Democratic leader
Mansfield said the fair en-
ployment provision would not
have advanced the cause of
civil rights, but would have
killed the bill by making a con-
ference with the House neces-
Sary and exposing the confer
ence report to a "double-ba
relied" filibuster.
Stevenson Endorses Plan
The liberals suffered an
other setback yesterday when
Senate Democratic Whip Hum
phrey of Minnesota produced
a letter from Adlai Stevenson,
American spokesman in the
United Nations. indorsing the
private enterprise bill.
Senator Morse, Democrat of
Oregon, a leading advocate of
Government ownership, had
tried to persuade the Foreign
Relations Committee to call Mr..
Stevenson as a witness for
questioning about a statement
he made in December of 1861
as follows:
I'VE would like to see United
Nations members not only use
this service, but also partici-
pate in its ownership and OPP
Grafton if they so desire"
In his letter to Senator
Humphrey, Mr.. Stevenson said:
IT assure you that if I had any
serious concern about this I
would somehow have made my
views heard long before this. I"
Mr.. Stevenson ended his letter
this way:
81 conclude that the legisla-
ton before you provides the
President and the Executive
Branch of this Government
with adequate control and in
fluence to insure that the in
Strument proposed here can be
fitted or adapted to an inter-
national system when we learn
enought to design one"
Mr.. Stevenson said tn a t
while he thought the bill should
have made precise reference to
the United Nations, he believes
its language and intent are
consistent with the resolution
adopted by the General Assem-
bly, of the U. N. last December.
He said the bill authorizes the
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