Senate passes ration plan

Press, 11 May 1979, Page 6

Senate passes ration plan

(NZPA Washington! After another long day of •manoeuvre and compromise, • the American Senate has approved President Carter’s • stand-by plan for petrol rationing in the event of a national emergency. The vote was 58 to 39. On the other side of the Capitol, the House of Representatives Rules Committee cleared the resolution for floor action by a vote of 10 to three, thus setting the stage for the final vote in the House. Vote counters said that the plan would probably pass, but that the tally was close and the outcome still uncertain. Under existing law, the President’s rationing plan will die unless it. is approved in both Houses of Congress by today. The key factor in the vote in the Senate was a resolution, passed by voice vote, which declared that the rationing plan could only be implemented in the event of a severe crisis caused by a cut-off of oil supplies from the Middle East. The resolution has no force of law, but it satisfied: (many senators who felt that!

the original plan gave Mr Carter too much flexibility! in deciding when to impose! rationing. The resolution reflected a lingering fear on Capitol Hill, spawned by Vietnam and Watergate, that no President should ever get too powerful or independent. The Administration also won over several votes by promising to study the problem of petrol users who process and ship farm products. Now the plan gives priority only to farmers who actually grow the crops.

In a third compromise, the Administration stated it would also give priority to users who produce energy, such as oil drillers or fuel shippers. Restrictions on petrol sales, the first in the United States since 1974. were begun by 10 California counties on Wednesday.

The restriction shortened the lines of drivers waiting for petrol but had only a limited effect in reducing the atmosphere of crisis over the fuel that has prevailed among California [motorists for more than a week.