Cast On Barren Ground? Center Warns Of Problems With ‘Seed Ii’

The Center for Security Policy today provided a "sneak preview" on the Support for East European Democracy Act of 1990 (known as "SEED II") that is scheduled to be considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tomorrow morning. In a paper entitled Throwing ‘SEEDS’– and Caution — to the Wind: An Overview of the SEED II Legislation, the Center highlights several of the key elements of this bill involving funding, eligibility, export controls, and finance and debt forgiveness.

The Center’s analysis indicates that SEED II, which is 114 pages in length, contains numerous provisions that would, if enacted in their present form, radically alter a host of current congressional restrictions guiding U.S. foreign policy and provide dangerous precedents that could seriously jeopardize any future loan repayments to American taxpayers by foreign governments.

"The SEED II legislation has not been formally reviewed in a single Foreign Relations subcommittee or full committee hearing — to say nothing of hearings by any of the myriad other committees whose jurisdictions are touched upon by its provisions," Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the Center’s director noted. "It seems obvious why that is the case: Many of SEED II’s terms simply cannot stand the light of day. The only way congressional approval could be obtained for such sweetheart deals for non-reforming communist regimes and the Soviet military is by trying to slip them by with a minimum of publicity and debate."

The Center for Security Policy calls on the Foreign Relations and other interested committees — including Banking, Finance, Armed Services, and Agriculture Committees — to hold urgent hearings on the SEED II legislation. Moreover, the Center believes that, before the Senate acts on the SEED II legislation, the Bush Administration should be obliged to outline clearly and publicly its specific intentions with respect to future Soviet eligibility for whatever benefits are ultimately provided under this bill. Also required are the actual milestones and timetables that the Soviet Union would be required to meet before the President would make a determination that the USSR is eligible for any or all of these benefits.