committee would use to consider the qualifications of ambassadorial nominees. No final agreement on the rules was reached during 1974. Executive Agreements.-The congressional role relating to executive agreements was again studied in 1974. Legislation passed in 1973 had required that all executive agreements be submitted to the Congress. S. 3038, which was considered during 1974 but not enacted, would have broadened the power of Congress by requiring that executive agreements be transmitted to the Congress and enter into force only after a period of 40 days, provided that both houses did not agree to a joint resolution disapproving the agreement. The bill passed the Senate on November 21, but no action was taken by the House. Emergency Powers. For the last several years Congress has studied the matter of terminating the national emergency proclaimed by the President in 1950, and of legislating a procedure whereby proclamations of emergency would be automatically terminated after a certain period of time, and in which Congress would have a role. On October 7, 1974, the Senate passed and sent to the House S. 3957 to terminate the four operative proclamations of national emergency now in existence 9 months after the enactment of the measure, thereby providing time for the determination of which of the provisions should be retained in the form of permanent law. The bill also provided a formula whereby future proclamations of national emergency would be published in the Federal Register with specific reasons for the declaration and enumeration of the statutory powers being used. The Congress would then have 4 months to affirm or reject the proclamation. The bill also restricted activated emergency law to a specific circumstance. No action was taken on this legislation in the House in 1974. However, a routine piece of legislation (H.R. 13320) which would have extended for 4 more years the President's emergency powers, and which had been reported favorably by the House Armed Services Committee was never considered by the full House because of strong criticism by some members for its wide delegation of powers to the President in a time of national emergency or anticipated national emergency. COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, Wisconsin, Chairman L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina MICHAEL HARRINGTON, Massachusetts CARDISS COLLINS, Illinois STEPHEN J. SOLARZ, New York HELEN S. MEYNER, New Jersey DON BONKER, Washington GERRY E. STUDDS, Massachusetts DONALD J. PEASE, Ohio ANTHONY C. BEILENSON, California E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA, Texas GEORGE E. DANIELSON, California BERKLEY BEDELL, Iowa JOHN J. CAVANAUGH, Nebraska WILLIAM S. BROOMFIELD, Michigan BENJAMIN A, GILMAN, New York ROBERT J. LAGOMARSINO, California JOHN J. BRADY, Jr., Chief of Staff (II) FOREWORD HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Washington, D.C., May 22, 1977. With the resurgence of congressional activity in foreign affairs, the need has arisen for a document which summarizes the activities of the Congress in that area. The Committee on International Relations long has provided summaries of its own activities in documents such as the annual "Survey of Activities" and the biannual "Legislative Review Activities" report. Those documents do not, however, provide information in any comprehensive way about foreign affairs-related activities of other House committees, the Senate or the Congress as a whole. For that reason, the Committee on International Relations has requested that the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, prepare an annual report of actions taken by Congress which impact on American foreign policy. The first such report appeared in 1974. This report has been expanded by the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division to include subject areas not covered in last year's edition and is, in general, a more comprehensive study. It is hoped that these documents will be of assistance to the committee and its members in undertaking a review of the committee's legislative and oversight responsibilities in the area of foreign affairs. The report, which is the work of the Foreign Affairs Division. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the members of the Committee on International Relations, should prove helpful to other committees and Members of Congress, as well as to scholars, the press, and the public. CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, Chairman. (III) |