527


 mous consent. agreement was reached by the full Senate. The Washington Post called the decision to go f or a vote in 10 days a gamble for both sides, since neither could count enough firm commitments to prevail at that time. The Post indicated that pro-treaty forces felt they had 63 or 64 sure votes, while anti-treaty senators counted
 28 to 30 on their side.
March 7 The Senate tabled, by a vote of 58-36, Senator Helms'
 unprinted amendment No. 4, which provided that the United States could maintain the Galeta Island naval communications facility
 after 1999.
MNarch 8-During the Senate debate Senator Stevens' amendment,
 would have permitted the prohibition of transit to warships and
 auxiliary vessels of nations which are in a state of belligerency
 w ithi either the United States or Panama,watbldyavoef
 ,59-34; and Senator Allen's amendment that sought to eliminate suib-section e, section 1 of Article III of the Neutrality Treaty was
 tabled by a vote of 58-31.
March 9-According to the Washingoton Post, the C arter administration's effort to win Senate approval of the treaties depended on five publicly "undecided" Democratic senators: DeConcini, Ford, Long, Nunn, and Tlmiadgre. The five ate lunch in the Majority Leader's office, with Senator Byrd, Vice President Mondale, Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Senators Cranston and Church. The purpose of the meeting was to look for ways to satisfy the senators' concerns about provisions of the Panama Canal Treaty limiting the construction of a new sea-level canal and aspects of the N eutrality Treaty which might limit U.S. freedom to protect the canal, and to do so without altering the treaties so substantially that they might have to be renegotiated or resubmitted to the Panananian electorate for approval. Mondale and Christopher report,dly took the position that some new understandings or reservations mig11cht be acceptable, but urged the senators not to seek new amendments to the body of the treaties. Later in the day, Senator DeConcini met with President Carter at the White House.
Me.I.rch 9-The Senate tabled Senator Dole's amendment No. 59 (to
 Leadership Amendment No. 20) that sought to guarantee U.S. authority to intervene militarily when the United States alone determines that the neutrality of the canal is threatened. The amendment was tabled by a vote of 45-37.
March 9-The British government announced its support for the treaties. The Panamanian ambassador to the United States, Gabriel Lewis, pointed out that the treaties were also favored by the governments of West Germany, France, Sweden, Finkand and Spain. .March 10-The Christian Scicunce Monitor reported that it had coml*~led figures indicating tht lobbying camnpaigns for and against the
 treaties had cost $2.7 million. The report said that the money spent to get votes against the treaty outweighed sums spent on the other
 side by a margin of better than 5 to 1.
March 10-The Senate adopted amendment No. 20, the first of two
 so-called leadership amend ments, by a vote of 84-5. The amendment tO Article IV of the Neutrality Treaty added portions of the Octoier 14, 1977 Statement of Understanding between President Carter