2162 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS February 23, 1982 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE-BUT I wish to bring to the attention of Optimas sell for $147.50, at least $60 below IT'S TRUE: THE U.S. ARMY my colleagues Mr. Morgan's article the Remingtons and Olivettis produced in BUYS COMMUNIST-MADE TYPE­ from the February 8, 1982, edition of Brazil and imported into the United States. Except for small numbers made for WRITERS the Washington Post, as well as a No­ export, the production of manual typewrit­ vember 22, 1981, letter to the Presi­ ers in the United States ended several years dent from Mr. Arnold Morse, market­ ago when most users converted to electric HON. JOHN LeBOUTILLIER ing manager, Morse Typewriter Co., models. Manual typewriters are now made OF NEW YORK Inc. primarily in Brazil, East Germany, Poland, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES I think that through this article, as Hungary and Bulgaria. Tuesday, February 23, 1982 well as from Mr. Morse's concise and Royal manuals, for example, are made in informative letter, the absurdity and Hungary. e Mr. LEBOUTILLIER. Mr. Speaker, wrongness of this situation will Optima is imported by International my colleagues might have missed a become readily apparent. Typewriter Exchange of Chicago. For the page 1 story that appeared in the Feb­ last several years its competitor, the Morse ruary 8, 1982, edition of the Washing­ [From the Washington Post, Feb. 8, 19821 Typewriter Co. of Queens, N.Y., has been ton Post entitled, "East Germany Has EAST GERMANY HAS KEY ROLE IN fighting the optima invasion in the halls of Key Role in Pentagon's Paperwork," PENTAGON'S PAPERWORK Congress and federal agencies. by Dan Morgan. <By Dan Morgan) However, trade laws and the Buy America Members of Congress profess to be Act provide protections only for American This story told the public about an manufacturing companies facing competi­ ongoing practice that enraged me "shocked." Rep. John LeBoutillier CR-N.Y.), a fire­ tion from foreign imports, not for U.S. im­ when it was first brought to my atten­ brand young conservative, says it is "quite porters. tion by Arnold and Marvin Morse of wrong." Morse vice president Arnold Morse told Morse Typewriter Co., Inc., Long A Queens businessman asserts that it will the House Appropriations defense subcom­ Island City, N.Y. The practice dis­ ''perpetuate communism." mittee last July that products from state­ cussed by Mr. Morgan is the repeated Yet as red as faces are all around, nobody controlled economies such as East Germa­ and long-standing American purchase in the U.S. government seems to be able to ny's sell at artificially low prices that de­ of Communist-made manual typewrit­ come up with a good reason why the Ameri­ stroy competition. can armed services should stop buying Morse charged that GSA and the Defense ers for use by none other than our Department nevertheless "blindly" award very own Army. I can well understand almost all their manual typewriters from communist East Germany, a leading mili­ business to the lowest bidder without con­ the long-accepted logic of taking the tary ally of the Soviet Union. sidering the possibility that the purchases lowest bid on an openly bidded-for Since 1978, the East German-made "perpetuate communism." public contract; what I cannot under­ Optima typewriters, the cheapest on the GSA bought only Optimas in 1978 and stand or sanction is the systematic market, have been selling like hot cakes to 1979 but told agencies to do their own pur­ purchase of typewriters from such un­ the Pentagon. The General Services Admin­ chasing in 1980. Many agencies stuck with distinguished nations as East Germa­ istration, which coordinates procurement Optima. Morse said Fort Irwin, Calif., ny, Hungary, and Poland. for government agencies, has bought some bought 216 Optimas last June. He said Opti­ The fault, my colleagues, is with us. $5 million worth of the Optimas, with most ma's success with the military has helped it Evidently, legal authority exists for going to the Army. sell thousands more to city governments What is more, the Treasury Department and school boards. this type of sale in the form of a lack approves of the East-West typewriter con­ Vice president Bill Nelson of International of prohibitory language barring pur­ nection. It will provide the East German Typewriter Exchange said ITE has been chases of typewriters from Communist communist regime with more dollars to selling 20,000 to 25,000 of the machines a countries. When I asked General Serv­ spend on American products, especially year. ices Administration Administrator grain, the major U.S. export to that coun­ The Morse Co. is now challenging Optima Gerald Carmen why these purchases try. on the ground that its type size does not were made, he responded that, "Unless In a statement last year, the department meet government specifications. Nelson says there is statutory mandate directing said it "would not be in our best interest to that "the typewriter we've been furnishing disqualify East German manufacturers for the last three years meet those specifica­ that we not do business with East Ger­ from bidding on ordinary commercial items tions." many or other Communist-bloc coun­ like manual typewriters, considering the ex­ As if the Pentagon's dependence on East. tries, GSA has no recourse" other cellent balance of trade in favor of the U.S. German typewriters was not concern than to purchase Communist-made economy" as a result of grain sales. enough, GSA's Carmen has advised Con­ typewriters. And GSA administrator Gerald P. Carmen gress of another Pentagon connection to the Evidently, the basis for justifying advised the House Appropriations defense Soviet bloc. this type of purchase is that it is pro­ subcommittee last Sept. 11 that "there is no The government, he said, buys musical in­ vided for within the terms of the gen­ legal basis for the GSA to refrain from con­ struments made in Czechoslovakia for mili­ eral agreement on tariffs and trade. tracting with foreign countries," including tary bands. communist bloc nations. While the United States is justified in The typewriter trade, though small in MORSE TYPEWRITER Co., INC., trading in a nondiscriminatory fashion dollar amount, illustrates the ironies inher­ Long Island City, N. Y., November 22, 1981. · with other signatorees, purchase of ent in the Reagan administration's tough Hon. RONALD REAGAN, material for use by our military ought stance against the Soviet Union. The admin­ President of the United States, to be prohibited. istration's fiscal 1983 budget calls for steep White House, Washington, D.C. Recognizing these limits will not increases in defense spending. DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: The General Serv­ deter me from supporting remedial Yet the United States and its European ices Administration and the Dept. of De­ language in this year's Department of allies have a complex web of economic rela­ fense have for the past 31/2 years been sup­ Defense Authorization Act to discon­ tionships with the Soviet bloc, to the point plying U.S. military forces throughout the where the U.S. military is buying equipment world with typewriters manufactured in tinue this type of purchase. made in Warsaw Pact nations. communist East Germany. The annual The time has come to stop conduct­ The Optima typewriter, made by the East single source manual typewriter contract ing business as usual with Communist Berlin state enterprise Robotron, meets one was awarded to the East German Optima countries that enslave their people at important. criterion of government agencies: typewriter in 1978 and 1979. In 1980 the home and terrorize others abroad. it is cheap. GSA cancelled the single source contract • This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. February 23, 1982 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 2163 and allowed all military procurement offices is in the interests of the United States to in­ ly designates the non-free world countries, to buy on their own. Optima, easily out bid­ crease the flow of technology to the third and excludes them from participation as ding the competition, captured the majority world. Yet U.S. buying policy offers no in­ suppliers in the AID program. AID code 941 of military requisitions during the course of centive for locating in a developing country describes those under-developed countries the year. as opposed to a COMECON country. eligible for AID grants, loans, and pur­ This year the GSA is offering a single Congress has never faced the problem of chases. A preference for under-developed source contract for the period of July 1, trade arrangements with communist econo­ country products, or exclusion of non-free 1981-June 30, 1982. Optima is again the low mies for federal procurements. The Buy world products, would provide a mechanism bidder. The military needs manual typewrit­ American Act, the Anti-Dumping Laws, and to stop the current trend in GSA and DoD ers, but they do not want communist equip­ the 1979 Trade Agreements Act provide procurement. ment. The GSA does not want to buy the relief in a case where an American manufac­ The federal government should not be East German typewriters. Yet the laws and turer is involved. However absent a domestic forcing Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine regulations which govern federal procure­ producer, the GSA and the DOD must treat personnel to use communist generated ment require both the GSA and the DoD to all foreign products on an equal basis. equipment. At a minimum, defense acquisi­ blindly award to the lowest bidder. Neither Approximately $5 million has already tion regulations should be changed so as to are authorized to differentiate between been spent on East German typewriters permit military procurement officers to buy communist and free world products.