Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1990 TAG: 9003142952
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From the Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGT LENGTH: Medium
Nicaragua would receive $300 million of the funds, Bush said. The administration earlier this year asked for roughly $500 million in cash aid for Panama.
Bush also signed an executive order lifting the trade embargo on Nicaragua imposed by the Reagan administration, and said that he would provide an immediate $21 million in food and other humanitarian aid to that country. He also plans to request $200 million for Nicaragua next year, he said in a news conference.
The aid "is urgent to advance the prospect for democracy" in both countries, Bush said. "Damage to both economies has been great. We must help."
The package quickly put congressional Democrats in a bind, drawing pained comments from Capitol Hill leaders such as Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House panel that appropriates defense dollars.
"This is going to be a real painful exercise," Murtha said. "It's going to be very, very difficult."
"We want to work with them and do it as soon as possible," said House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash. But, he added, "I don't really accept the artificial deadlines."
The reaction from Congress underlines the complications of cutting the defense budget and using the resulting "peace dividend" to fund new programs.
Democrats have called for cuts in defense, and many have spoken in favor of aid to the new governments in Panama and Nicaragua. However, the list of defense projects the administration would like to cut includes many that are favorites of powerful members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans. And many members of Congress who would like to cut the defense budget would prefer to see the savings spent at home, rather than on foreign aid programs, which have never been popular with voters.
If Congress and administration negotiators cannot reach agreement by March 27, the president said, he will ask for authority to make the cuts unilaterally.
"These nations need our help to heal deep wounds inflicted by years of strife and oppression, years of loss and deprivation," Bush said. "We must act and act soon."
"There is a sense of urgency" in the aid requests from Latin America, Bush added.
Panamanian officials have complained that U.S. aid to their country has been slow to arrive, and Panamanian President Guillermo Endara publicly fasted to protest the delay. The White House in January asked for roughly $1.1 billion for Panama, but more than $500 million of that aid was in the form of trade preferences and other incentives.
The $500 million in cash aid is still under review in Congress, where lawmakers contend that the administration has been slow in answering questions about the program.
"As recently as just a few hours ago, we could not get the administration to answer the two basic questions on Panama," Sen. Patrick Leahy said Tuesday: "Where is the money coming from, and where is it going?"
"I don't think anyone is going to vote for it until they know what it's going to be spent on," said Leahy, chairman of the Senate panel handling foreign aid appropriations.
The administration wants very much to have the aid package for Nicaragua passed through Congress and ready to go by the time Violetta Chamorro takes office on April 25. The prospect of U.S. aid was a major part of Chamorro's U.S.-supported campaign against Nicaragua's Marxist Sandinista government.
There is considerable support in Congress for aiding both Nicaragua and Panama.
"We need to get food in the stomachs of people who voted for freedom in Nicaragua and we need to do it quickly," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. "We need to give Mrs. Chamorro political clout."
"My view is the national security of the United States can be enhanced by those kinds of moves . . . a movement of money from defense to foreign assistance," said Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said Tuesday he welcomed the lifting of economic sanctions and $300 million in aid, but he called it little compared with the damage done.
"I celebrate this as a victory of the Nicaraguan people, who have suffered so much. They deserve this and more," he said. "Although it's little, considering Nicaragua's economic circumstances, it shows a willingness to help."
by CNB