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taxpayers of at least $2.262 billion without any need to seek an appropriation f rom thle Congress.
 AVIe are presented, then, with treaties, which do not give the United States the right to guarantee its interests in the canal, which do not provide for an adequate defense of the canal, which do not allow the United States to initiate new canal projects except with Panama's consent., but which do, on the other hand ,give the Canal Zone entirely to Panamia, which do also eventually give the Panama Canal Company to Panama, which do immediately give the most lucrative operations of the Pan-ama Canal Company to Panama, which do give immediately 10 LU.S. military bases to Panama, which do give Panama immediately political jurisdiction over 37,000 U.S. citizens living in the Canal Zone, and which do, finally, give to Panama $2.262 billion in 1977 dollars. And this last I find the -most incredible part of all.
 You know, Mr. President, ordinarily the grantee pays the grantor, but our clever negotiators have figured out a way for us to give away the Canal Zone and to pay the recipient at the same time. They have also figured out a way to make these payments without congressional approval. I will not insist now on going into great detail on how this $2.0-62 billion in 1977 dollars is to be paid to Panama, but during the course of this debate on which we have embarked I am certain that sooner or later it will be made even more fully apparent to the people of this country the shabby method by which they will be made to pay for this incredible arrangement. In the interim, I recommend to Senators a caref ul reading of a speech given on August 19, 1977, before the Panamnanian National Assembly by Panamanian Planning and Econom-ic Policy Minister Nicolas Ardito Barletta. Minister Barletta's analysis of the cash flow to Panama proposed by these arrangements is, in my judgment, highly accurate, and it is from his work, rather than from the highly misleading Department of State estimates, that I have drawn the figure $2.262 billion.
 I first raised this issue, Mr. President, in a speech I gave on the floor of the Senate on September 16, 1977, and finally only in recent weeks have the newspapers here in Washington, for the first time, given any attention at all to the matter. But that overdue attention is not too late, and if this debate continues beyond the vote today, perhaps, in fact certainly, it will be made clear to the people just what is involved in these cash transactions.
 Why are we proposing to pay these tremendous sums to Panama? Why would we permit these proposed toll increases 'which will surely burden commerce and inflate consumer prices in the United: States? The only reason I can ascertain is a desire to provide Panama with funds to repay outstanding loans from the large multinational batnks. These banks already receive direct from the Department of State -nearly all of the present annual annuity to Panama. Representatives of the banks, representing bondholders, directly participated in our negotiations with Panama. The banks did, but the Senate dlid not. Obviously, these big banks have an interest in seeing these d.isastrous treaties ratified just as they had an interest in the New York 'Cty bailout.
 'The Library of Congress did a study at my request which indicates thiat the external public debt of Panama is some $1.7 billion. Interest