VIETNAM WITHDRAWAL Deadline moves rejected

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32637, 19 June 1971, Page 1

VIETNAM WITHDRAWAL Deadline moves rejected

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, June 18.

The United States Congress has rejected moves to set a date for complete withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam—despite a growing anti-war feeling.

In a major test, the House of Representatives yesterday rejected by ,a vote of 256 to 158 a measure calling for a deadline of January 1, 1972.

The vote came one day after the Senate rejected two attempts to impose a deadline for the war.

The votes were seen as a victory for President Nixon’s Administration in a campaign to maintain flexibility in its Indo-China war policies. Both Houses of Congress showed they were not willing to take the drastic measure of cutting off funds for a war in progress. But a bipartisan group of Congressional critics said there were warning signs—that the President should heed—in the first round of votes which ended yesterday. Continued pressure They promised to continue pressure in Congress and the country for a complete American withdrawal from Vietnam.

Mr Charles Whalen (Republican, Ohio), co-sponsor of the major amendment defeated in the House last night, said that many Congressmen who voted against a withdrawal deadline nevertheless supported the principle of a complete withdrawal. They had privately said the same thing to Administration officials, he said. ‘1 do not think the vote represents their true feelings, but they are reluctant to cross the President,” Mr Whalen told reporters. The measure was co-spon-sored by Mr Lucien Nedzi (Democrat, Michigan). In the Senate —where proposals to set deadlines of December 31 and April I, 1972, were defeated 55 to 42 and 52 to 44 respectively on Wednesday—Doves were also planning new efforts to maintain the pressure for a complete United States military withdrawal.

Move by Doves

They were contemplating introducing new versions of the end-the-war legislation next week as well as trying to delay a vote on the mea-

sure to which the amendments were attached—the bill extending for two years the Military Conscription Authority, which expires on June 30. However, Congressional observers said it appeared that as long as President Nixon continued his phased withdrawal of United States

forces and avoided any major escalation, such as last year’s incursion into Cambodia, it was unlikely the Doves would be able to pass a fixed deadline measure.