PANEL VOTES DOWN FUNDS REQUEST FOR NICARAGUA REBELS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440101-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 101
• Publication Date: March 9, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440101-5
ARTICLE AP ?_
ON WASHINGTON POST
9 March 1984
STAT
Panel Votes , o
'Fi
und s Request
for
Nicaragua
Rebels
id
d
e
$24 m11-
_
and Margaret Shapiro ..L 11r, w11111ULtee prov
WwhIn6 Post sLLttwrltas lion for covert aid to the Nicaraguan
The Senate Appropriations Com rebels last year, ex licitly telling the
mittee, led by its Republican chair' administration it would have to
man, yesterday refused to grant make a formal re guest for more
President Reagan's emergency. re- m e
quest for an additional $21 million In a related development in the
in covert U.S. military aid to rebel House, most Democratic members of
forces in Nicaragua, insisting that the Foreign Affairs Committee
the administration go through nor- reached tentative agreement on the
mal Senate channels to get its mon- terms under which they would agree
'ey. The vote was 15 to 14. to provide additional military aid to
At the suggestion of Chairman El Salvador in 1985. If they approve
Mark 0. Hatfield (R-Ore.), the com- the proposal in a party caucus next
mittee also put off until next week week, the full committee will consid-
the administration's emergency re-
quest for an additional $93 million ? er Administration officials said they
in not intended to offend anyone
m military aid to El Salvador in> its had but had belatedly realized that no
battle against leftist guerrillas. regular funding' measures were
A R edgincthe failure of what scheduled to be considered in Con-
severral al R
epublicans called a discs- greys until May or June, by which
trous effort to bass congressional time both the Salvadoran army. and
authorizing commit Secretary
ultz a to o the rebels in Nicaragua would alleg-
State ~e P. Sh edly be short of funds and equip-
members of the Senate Intelligence ment
Qmmittee durintt a closed - -
s
A White House statement later said the $21
million for the Nicaraguan rebels was /necessary
to continue certain activities of the Central Intel-
ligence Agency which the president has dater mined are important to the national security of
the United States,"
The president asked Majority Whip Ted Ste-
vens (R-Alaska) and Sen. Robert W. Kasten Jr.
(R-Wis.) to submit the amendments.
The idea backfired.
"If the entire administration policy for Central
America is dled as poor v as is wag an e
t is doomed," said Budget Committee Chairman
Pete V. Domenici (R-N M )also a member of the
Appropriations Committee. He said he was "em-
barrassed" to learn that Hatfield had not been
told of the plan until Wednesday afternoon and
t h a t ew I n t e ll i g e n ce panel which n rq ~a~y re-
views a 1. cover -id fmancine had not been con-
sulted. The administration "should hay beer
muchmore forthright." he said. .
Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.), who provid-
ed the key Republican vote dooming the admin-
ession move Repeatedly warned by members of Congress
and acknowledged that the
had been "self-defeating," Sea Dan- not to try to get the money by reprogramming it
ie atrick Moynihan (1J_N,Xj,_tie from other projects or using legislative loopholes,
committee's vice chairman, said lat. administration strategists decided this week to try
er. to attach their emergency aid requests as amend-
Savirtz he was also speaking for ments to two emergency measures certain to pass
committee Chairman Barry Goldwa- Congress quickly-one would provide $150 million
ter (R-Ariz.), Moynihan added that in food aid to 18.drought-stricken nations in Af-
committeeme mben3 diIr not blame rica and the other would send the states $200 mil-
Shultz v:ho appeared before the lion to help with low-income citizens' winter en-
pa;t_el ~i-?,th CIA Director William J. ergy bills.
C "We want the matter considered by Congress
Lsey. made clear to. him that promptly," White House spokesman Larry
we were perfectly a