Page 233 - Argentina - Carter, Regan, and Bush VP

No Objection To Declassification in Fifll 2012/12/12 : NLC-133-6-2-47-4
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2, Congressional Consultations on Trip Announcement -
As we had discussed, Hodding will announce the Middle Iiast trip
at noon on Monday. We will inform the leadership and key members
of the Foreign Relations and International Relations Committees of
the fact Ehat 1 plan to make the trip before the announcement is made.
1 plan eo talk personally to as many of these people as I can on Sunday
evening and Monday morning. I will explain our objectives and ask
for their public support.

3, Panama Treaty Passage - On Thursday, I reported
that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff believed the
Committee's resolution would link Panama treaty ratification to
the passage of enabling legislation by both* Houses. 1 think we have
succeeded for the time being in forestalling such an amendment.
The Committee will not push for this amendment, although it is
conceivable that we will face it on the floor.

Bob Byrd has confirmed that he has asked that the treaties
be reported by January 23th, with floor action to begin in the first
week cf February. He expects floor action to take three weeks,
so final passage could come in late February or early March.

The State Department has a substantial task force working
on all aspects of the Treaty ratification process. I find that it is
functioning well. Doug Bennet, Frank Moore and our legislative
staffs seem to be meshing smoothly and doing the necessary planning.
1 conclude that we are reasonably well prepared for what will be an
extremely difficult and subtle legislative struggle.

4, Presidential Mail - I am glad to report that the State
Department backlog of responses to Presidential mall referred to
us for answering has been eliminated and* we are now in compliance
with the nine-day limit for processing such correspondence. We
have ale@ taken steps to solve the long range problem by organizational
steps within the Department and by contracting with a high speed
correspondence processing service.

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No Objection To Declassification in Full 2012/12/12 : NLC-133-6-2-47-4