Office of the Historian

154. Memorandum to President Carter1

Washington, June 14, 1978.

FROM

  • Cyrus Vance
  • W. Michael Blumenthal
  • James Schlesinger
  • Charlie Schultze
  • Stu Eizenstat
  • Frank Moore
  • Zbigniew Brzezinski
  • Henry Owen

SUBJECT

  • Congressional Consultation About Summit Energy Policy

1. This memorandum recommends that you consult with key Congressional leaders about the handling of US energy policy at the Summit.

2. Schmidt, Callaghan, and Fukuda have made clear that what we say on this issue will clearly determine whether we can get other countries’ growth and trade pledges at the Summit. The fundamental com [Page 491] mitment they want from us is that we will take bold action to limit oil imports.

3. We believe allied concerns would be met if you said at the Summit that:

—it is your objective to raise the average US oil price paid by the users to the world level by 1980;

—to achieve this objective you are pressing for legislation, which would be the most desirable outcome;

—if legislation has not been enacted by the end of 1978 you will use the administrative powers at your disposal to achieve this same constraining effect on US oil imports, in ways consistent with your other relevant goals.

Such a pledge would leave you free to choose among the different forms of administrative action open to you.

4. If you are to make such a statement at the Summit, you will wish to consult Congressional leaders beforehand. It would be useful to consult as soon as possible, so that the results can be taken into account in pre-Summit planning. The best time for such consultation would be next week, when Cy Vance and Mike Blumenthal will have returned from the OECD Ministerial Meeting, and can report first hand on relevant foreign attitudes. We will supply talking points before the meeting.

The members to be consulted would be Senators Baker, Bellmon, Bentsen, Byrd, Jackson, and Long;2 and Congressmen Anderson, Ashley, Dingell, O’Neill, Staggers, and Ullman.3

Recommendation

That you authorize Frank Moore to invite the members listed above to a meeting with you next week.4

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 69, PRC 61: Economic Summit, Energy, 6/9/78. Confidential. Sent for action. Handwritten notes indicate that Vance and Blumenthal approved the memorandum before leaving to attend the OECD meeting. The memorandum was sent to Carter under a covering memorandum from Owen, who wrote: “Stu and I hope that you will, before leaving for Panama, approve the recommendation in the attached joint memo authorizing Frank Moore to set up the meeting with Congressional leaders. Stu just phoned to say that if we don’t do this right away, our prospects for success on the energy front will slip.”↩
  2. Senators Howard Baker (R–TN), Henry Bellmon (R–OK), Lloyd Bentsen (D–TX), Robert Byrd (D–WV), Henry Jackson (D–WA), and Russell Long (D–LA).↩
  3. Congressmen Glenn Anderson (D–CA), Thomas Ashley (D–OH), John Dingell (D–MI), Thomas “Tip” O’Neill (D–MA), Harley Staggers (D–WV), and Albert Ullman (D–OR).↩
  4. According to the President’s Daily Diary, he met with selected members of Congress on June 22 to discuss his statement on energy at the upcoming Summit. (Carter Library, Staff Office Files)↩