Tough Bill on Shoe, Textile, Clothing Imports Approved : House Measure OKd on 248-150 Vote; Reagan Veto Expected

The House on Friday gave final passage to legislation tightening limits on imports of textiles, clothing and shoes and sent it to the White House for certain veto by President Reagan.

The 248-150 vote fell short of the two-thirds margin necessary to override a veto, and House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) conceded the measure’s survival was “doubtful.”

The bill, denounced by many Republicans as well as some Democrats who had engineered the omnibus trade bill that passed Congress earlier this year, would freeze textile and clothing imports at 1987 levels this year and would limit import growth to 1% a year starting in January. Shoe imports would be frozen permanently at 1987 levels.

Supporters argued that the stringent measures were needed to protect U.S. industries battered by foreign competition.

But opponents charged that it was unnecessary extra protection for an already protected industry and would add tens of billions of dollars to consumer clothing expenses.

‘Quick Review’

President Reagan, returning late Friday from a campaign trip to Florida, said through a spokesman that a veto would come surely and quickly. Reagan “has said he will veto it, and he will,” said B. Jay Cooper, a White House spokesman specializing in economic issues.

Cooper said the legislation will undergo the customary review accorded all congressionally approved measures, but in this case, “it will be a quick review.”

He cited Administration objections that the clothing prices increases would pose a particular hardship for low- and middle-income consumers and that the measure would invite retaliation by U.S. trading partners against this country’s exports.

With 288 votes needed to override a veto if all House members were present, Wright acknowledged the tally “does not bode well for an override.”

Friday’s vote was divided more along regional lines than partisan ones. Southern textile-state lawmakers formed the bulwark of support, joined by allies from Rust Belt states whose industries have also been under heavy pressure from imports. In the Pennsylvania delegation, for example, all 12 Democrats and nine of 11 Republicans supported the bill.

Overall, 186 Democrats and 62 Republicans voted for the bill, while 49 Democrats and 101 Republicans opposed it.

The measure would impose import quotas on 180 categories of textile products and 30 types of footwear. The system would be reviewed after 10 years. The bill would establish a one-year program under which the government would auction off import licenses and set a special quota for silk neckties.

“All we ask is fair trade . . . a level playing field for the textile industry,” said Rep. W. G. (Bill) Hefner (D-N.C.), one of the measure’s key backers.

“The jobs of 2 million textile workers are at stake,” said Rep. Marilyn Lloyd (D-Tenn.), who warned that reliance on imported uniforms and combat boots would undercut national security. Rep. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), saying her state had lost 7,000 jobs in footwear manufacturing to imports, called shoes, textiles and apparel “the Hurricane Gilbert of imports.”

But Rep. Sam Gibbons (D-Fla.), one of the architects of the omnibus trade bill, countered that the U.S. textile industry currently is prosperous, its employment is stable and that there are already some 1,400 import quotas in place to protect various U.S-made textile, apparel and shoe products.

The textile lobbyists “are great at manufacturing statistics,” he charged, saying that further protection “would be bad for the United States, bad for consumers and bad for jobs in all industries.”

‘Stand With President’

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) also opposed the bill from the outset as excessively protectionist. “I urge the President to veto this bill,” said John J. LaFalce (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Ways and Means trade subcommittee. “ . . . A good many good Democrats, a good many good friends of labor, are going to stand with the President on this issue.”

In mounting their offensive against the bill, Republican opponents led by Minority Leader Rep. Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) complained that it had been “railroaded” through to final passage without giving members an adequate chance to amend it.

Aides to Rostenkowski explained that he agreed late last week to let the bill go through on a strict, one-hour, no-amendment “self-executing” rule to honor an agreement he had made earlier with its sponsors in order to get them not to attach the measure to the omnibus trade bill. “They behaved and kept their word, so he kept his,” one aide explained.