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Show Garn charges noonlo innorGfl Charging that "the voice of the American people was ignored," ig-nored," U.S. Senator Jake Garn expressed "Deep disappointment" dis-appointment" over the Senate's Sen-ate's vote to ratify the first of the two Panama Canal 1 treaties the so -called Neutrality Neu-trality Treaty. "Obviously, I'm very dis -appointed not surprised but disappointed by the Senate's actions," said Garn, who has been a leader in the fight to defeat the pacts. "I firmly believe that the vast majority of Americans recognized rec-ognized that the treaties are I bad militarily, economi- cally and morally and the Senate simply chose to ignore their wishes," he said. "The Senate leadership effectively ef-fectively tabled every a-mendment a-mendment that would have strengthened the pact," he I noted. "We were told over and over again that Gen. (Omar) Torrijos would not like the amendments and would have to hold another plebiscite in Panama to gain approval for them." "I was led to believe that the U.S. Senate was an independent in-dependent body, and that we were supposed to advise and consent. Garn also criticized lobbying lobby-ing techniques used by treaty proponents to put heavy pressure pres-sure on undecided senators. ' They were told that the is -sue was not whether or not the treaties were bad or good but what kind of impact a treaty defeat would have on President Carter "Well, I don't think we should make decisions on the basis of someone's image or prestige," Garn said. |