House Crushes GOP Attacks on Trade Bill

House Democrats rolled up lopsided majorities Wednesday to sink Republican attempts to weaken a sweeping omnibus trade bill. The bill, denounced by the Administration as protectionist, now seems assured of passage this week.

In a key test early in the day, the House leadership easily defeated, 276 to 137, an Administration-backed move to delete from the 450-page bill a provision calling for retaliation unless annual Japanese, West German and Taiwanese trade surpluses with the United States are reduced by 10%. The same provision makes denial of “labor rights” in producer nations an unfair trade practice.

Veto Certain

That winning margin was a scant 15 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override President Reagan’s all but certain veto if the bill reaches his desk in its present form.

Fearing trade as an issue in the election campaign this fall, 44 Republicans--mostly from the industrial Northeast, textile-producing states in the Southeast and Gulf Coast states--opposed the Administration on the bill. Only seven Democrats opposed the measure, which trade specialists and economists have denounced as a trade-shrinking, protectionist measure.

In another key test, the closest in a day in which 2-1 majorities were virtually the rule, the Democratic leadership defeated on a 236-182 vote a move strongly backed by the Administration to strike a section of the bill that would seriously weaken controls on high-technology exports and make it easier for third parties to ship forbidden technology with military applications to the Soviet Union or its allies.

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger had strongly opposed the provision in a letter to House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) on the ground that it would make it easier for terrorists to obtain U.S.-made weapons and explosives.

Provision Denounced

In an interview Wednesday with United Press International, the Pentagon official in charge of monitoring export controls, Stephen D. Bryen, denounced the provision as “the most irresponsible proposal that I’ve ever seen in the export arena.”

But the Republicans were split in support of the attempt by Rep. Toby Roth (R-Wis.) to defeat it, and 42 of them sided with the 194 Democrats to swell the majority. The provision to weaken export controls was heavily supported by representatives from high-technology areas, such as Rep. Ed Zschau (R-Los Altos).

The measure was primarily the handiwork of Rep. Don Bonker (D-Wash.), whose district includes such high-tech defense industries as Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Tektronix. In 1984 and 1985, Bonker had played a key role in a two-year legislative struggle to pass an export control bill that the Pentagon and the Commerce Department could support--and which would be largely superseded if the Bonker measure becomes law.

GOP leaders contend that the bill is chiefly for use in this fall’s election campaign. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) told reporters that the Democratic bill “is a totally political package.”

Tough Sledding in Senate

No trade legislation is pending in the Senate, where the Republican majority would likely cause some tough sledding for the House bill.

But Speaker O’Neill declared that the bill has already “accomplished some good,” contending that it had influenced the Administration’s call Tuesday for voluntary restraints on the export of machine tools to the United States.

On Wednesday, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry said Japan plans to restrict its machine tool exports to comply with the request.

Voting on final passage of the trade package is set for today, and the only uncertainty is whether the majority will be enough to override a veto.