After debate, Ensign pulls bill

Benjamin Grove

Friday, April 4, 2003 | 9:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A spirited Senate debate fizzled Thursday when Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., withdrew his controversial amendment to block French and German companies from enjoying postwar profits from rebuilding Iraq.

Ensign pulled the legislation after it became clear President Bush did not back the GOP senator's amendment.

"This is a battle I plan to continue," Ensign said. "We are going to live to fight another day on this particular amendment."

Ensign had introduced the legislation as an amendment to the nearly $80 billion war budget bill, which the House and Senate approved Thursday night.

Also Thursday Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., scaled back from $400 million to $150 million his amendment aimed at boosting nuclear materials security and guarding against nuclear attack. That legislation was approved as part of the Senate's war budget bill.

Ensign was unavailable for further comment Thursday night as he traveled back to Las Vegas for the weekend. Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said Ensign spoke with a White House official during the day, and the official explained the administration could not support the legislation.

After a heated debate with Democrats that reflected a national debate over strained U.S. relations with France and Germany, Ensign withdrew the amendment Thursday afternoon "primarily because it had gone a long way to serving its purpose," Finn said. "He had wanted it to spark debate."

As part of the charge against the amendment, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware turned to an unlikely ally, the White House.

"I spoke to Dr. (Condoleezza) Rice, and I'm authorized to say the White House opposes this amendment because it would deny the president of the United States the flexibility he needs," Biden said.

Rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure could reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars, Ensign said. International companies are eagerly eyeing the lucrative contracts.

But the behavior of France and Germany, which among other nations opposed the war with Iraq, has been "really quite despicable," Ensign said. He targeted those nations in the amendment because they led the world in war opposition, he said.

"The governments of France and Germany chose to sit on the sidelines while the United States and our allies are ousting a bloodthirsty dictator and freeing a nation," Ensign said in a statement after the debate. "I could not sit by and allow those countries to make millions (of dollars) once the hard and dangerous work was done."

According to his legislation, French or German companies with U.S. subsidiaries would be allowed to bid on contracts in Iraq, Ensign said.

But critics said the amendment could hurt U.S. workers whose companies have relations with French and German firms. Critics promptly noted that the amendment would greatly worsen already tense relations with the two longtime U.S. allies.

"If America is going to become an arrogant nation, do things only our way, this is a good way to begin," Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., said. Feinstein noted that Germany was allowing U.S. troops to use Air Force bases in Germany.

Biden said the Ensign legislation would have unintended consequences. The State Department opposed the Ensign amendment because it would undermine ongoing diplomatic negotiations with allies, said Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.