292. Editorial Note
On August 28, President Eisenhower signed into law Public Law 177 providing for United States participation in the International Atomic Energy Agency. This legislation implemented ratification of the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which the Senate had consented to on June 18 and the President had signed on June 28.
Regarding Senate consent to and ratification of the statute, see Document 243.
During hearings on this implementing legislation in the Agreements for Cooperation Subcommittee of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Senator John W. Bricker introduced an amendment requiring congressional approval of each future transfer of fissionable material by the United States to the Agency. Exempted from this amendment were materials already promised or pledged to the Agency by the United States. The Joint Committee adopted this amendment; and though the House of Representatives rejected it, it was retained and expanded in the Senate–House conference report to require congressional authorization of future materials not only to the International Atomic Energy Agency but also to other bodies such as Euratom. The Senate on August 19 and the House on August 20 adopted the conference report by voice votes.
For text of the International Atomic Energy Agency Participation Act, see 71 Stat. 453. Regarding congressional actions, see Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 85th Congress, 1st Session … 1957 (Washington, Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1957), volume XIII, pages 580–582.