WASHINGTON (States News Service) - Responding to pressure from international business, Congress has directed the State Department to set up a two-tiered approach as to how it licenses satellite exports, speeding up the process for companies selling technology to U.S. allies.

The provision was included in the massive final spending package hurried through the House on Thursday, and scheduled for a Senate vote on Friday. The bill was the product of dicey negotiations and cannot be changed, so the final version is almost certain to contain the satellite provision and be signed into law by President Clinton soon.

U.S. policy towards satellite technology exports shifted last March amid concerns that some companies were giving China and other nations technology that could endanger national security. Congress ordered licensing authority for exports transferred from the Commerce Department to the State Department. There, stricter standards and insufficient staff have led to delays that companies say can be fatal to their bids for international contracts. The issue was identified repeatedly by business leaders as the top problem in space business today at the recent International Space Business Assembly.

The new legislation directs the State Department to "establish a regulatory regime for the licensing for export of commercial satellites, satellite technologies, their components and systems … to NATO allies and major non-NATO allies."

For products or information heading to those countries, an "expedited" process must be established for those with "time-critical" needs.

"Congress moved authority for satellite export licensing from the Commerce Department to State because we wanted scrutiny of those few exports headed to potential enemies like Communist China," Rohrabacher said. The two-tiered approach allows some licenses to be processed quickly while ensuring the Defense Department pays close attention to licenses headed for China and other possible enemy nations.

China, poised to join the World Trade Organization at a meeting in Seattle next week, has been the frequent target of Republican critics of Clinton's foreign policy. GOP presidential frontrunner George W. Bush called China a "competitor, not a strategic partner," in his first major foreign policy address Friday.

Luo Ge, director general of foreign for the China National Space Administration, said earlier this month that China would object to any trade policy that singles it out as different from other countries.

The measure also provides $9 million to the Office of Defense Trade Controls, which handles the processing of the licenses. That's $2 million below the department's request for the year, a Rohrabacher aide said, but still an increase from last year. The State department has repeatedly called for more money to hire additional staff for that office.