port also provides a formula for adjusting the minimum loan rate on cotton. Finally, the conference report: authorizes increases in the borrowing authority of the CCC from $14.5 billion to $25 billion, subject to appropriation acts, effective October 1, 1978; encourages the USDA to expand programs converting grains into fuel; and establishes a raisin marketing program and related activities for raisins.

COMMITTEE CRITERIA

The Agriculture Committee has stated that immediate consideration of this measure is necessary to reassure interested segments of the agricultural sector that increased Federal assistance will be available before planting decisions for the 1978 crop are completed. The conference report on H.R. 6782 is an amendment which provides new spending authority which was not considered by the Senate when it considered the conference report on this bill on April 10, 1978. The committee has therefore requested the waiver of section 303 (a) to permit early consideration of this matter in the Senate and in the House.

As reported from conference, H.R. 6782 does not violate the spirit of section 303 (a), which is to assure that new entitlements are not enacted before they can be reviewed in the context of a budget resolution. The Senate has just completed action on Senate Conference Resolution 80, the first budget resolution for fiscal year 1979, which provides enough room in function 350 (Agriculture) to accommodate legislation such as proposed in this conference report. The House Budget Committee has recommended an even larger target for Agriculture in its proposed resolution for fiscal year 1979.

Inasmuch as the increases in spending for the agricultural sector in this legislation can be acommodated in the Senate and House totals, it does not appear that H.R. 6782, as amended, will breach the functional totals set forth in the fiscal year 1979 budget resolution. Since delayed consideration of this bill until May 15 is not necessary to further the interests of the congressional budget process, the committee reports favorably on the waiver resolution.

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MAY 2 (legislative day, APRIL 24), 1978.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. SPARKMAN, from the Committee on Foreign Relations,
submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. Con. Res. 549]

The Committee on Foreign Relations, to which was referred the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 549) expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the Belgrade Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the delegation of the United States thereto, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the concurrent resolution do pass.

BACKGROUND

On June 15, 1977, a preparatory conference convened in Belgrade to establish the framework for the meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. At the beginning of the preparatory meeting, the Congress adopted House Concurrent Resolution 249 which expressed the sense of the Congress that the Conference be structured in a way that would provide for full presentation and consideration of violations of the Helsinki Accords of 1975 including the human rights provisions of Basket Three of the Accords.

During the Conference, which began on October 4, 1977, and concluded March 8, 1978, the delegations representing the United States and the Western European nations consistently pursued the question of violations of the accords, and particularly the human rights provisions, in spite of the opposition of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies. The treatment of dissidents in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and other nations was of special concern during the Conference. Due to this opposition of the Soviet Union and its allies, the Final Statement issued on the conclusion of the Conference made no recommendations regarding violations of Basket Three.

The delegation of the United States to Conference was lead by the Honorable Arthur J. Goldberg and included all the Congressional Members of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe—

Representative DANTE B. FASCELL, Chairman

Senator CLAIBORNE PELL, Cochairman

The delegation also included a number of distinguished representatives from the private sector and several departments and agencies. These members were

The resolution first would express the gratitude of the Congress for the "determination and vigor" of the members of the delegation of the United States in pursuing compliance with the human rights provisions of the Accords and for bringing violations of these provisions to the attention of the Conference and the public.

Secondly, the resolution would urge the President and officials of the executive branch to express strongly the opposition of the United States to repression and to violations of the Helsinki Accords.

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The resolution would then urge the President and appropriate executive branch officials to use all feasible bilateral contacts with the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations to emphasize that the Accords require observance of human rights.

COMMITTEE ACTION

House Concurrent Resolution 549 passed the House of Representatives on April 10, 1978. The resolution was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations on April 11, 1978. The Committee on Foreign Relations met to consider the resolution on April 28, 1978, and ordered the resolution reported favorably to the Senate without opposition.

COMMITTEE COMMENTS

The committee fully concurs that the delegation, led so ably by Ambassador Goldberg, deserves the expression of gratitude provided in the resolution. Further, the committee would like to express its appreciation for the cooperation of the entire delegation with the committee.

Despite the substantial opposition and criticism of the position of the United States, the delegation did not relent. The deep concern of the United States was repeatedly and effectively demonstrated to the Conference and the world.

The committee would also like to state its support of the provisions of the resolution urging the President and the executive branch to continue to express the opposition of the United States to repression and violations of human rights and to emphasize through bilateral contacts the importance of compliance with the Helsinki Accords.

TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Whereas the Belgrade meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe has now concluded;

Whereas H. Con. Res. 249, adopted June 15, 1977, urged that the Belgrade meeting include the presentation and thorough discussion of all violations of the Helsinki Accords:

Whereas the United States delegation to the Belgrade meeting displayed great determination and resourcefulness in forthrightly expressing the concern of the Congress and people of the United States over specific violations of the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Accords by some of the signatory states, including the Soviet Union and some Eastern European countries; and

Whereas violations of the human rights guaranteed under the Helsinki Accords continue in some signatory states: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring). That the United States delegation to the Belgrade meeting of the Conference on Cooperation and Security in Europe is accorded the gratitude of the Congress for its determination and vigor in demanding a thorough review of compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Accords by the signatory states and for its success in ob

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taining such a review which brought into the spotlight of world opinion those abuses which were of greatest concern to the Congress and people of the United States.

SEC. 2. The Congress urges the President and other appropriate executive branch officials to continue to express at every suitable opportunity and in the strongest terms the opposition of the United States to repressive actions and to violations of basic human rights which are contrary to the Helsinki Accords.

SEC. 3. The Congress urges the President and other appropriate executive branch officials to use every feasible bilateral contact to emphasize to the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries that the solemn commitments given by such countries call for their observance of human rights.

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