'CONTRA' AID FACES UPHILL BATTLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201660059-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 59
• Publication Date: February 27, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

r AnTICL Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201660059-4
ON PAC- _ .--w CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
27 February 1986
`Contra.' aid faces uphill battle
mean secret, or "covert,
military aiWwhich Congress
has p evio~y re .
Leading members of the
President's own party in
both House and Senate have
advised the White House
that, in this year of budget
cuts, Congress will almost
certainly not approve a
nearly 400 percent increase
not to seek renewal of direct
military assistance to the
rebels. Rather, they have
urged him to seek a diplo-
matic solution to the conflict.
The Re plan faces
heavy opposition in e ate and
comma say aides for
both panes. pprova b
both committees will be
needed in order to prove e
a- runcis already
allocated to of n-se De-
partment. The gENUt-ra-
ffo-n milthe
aid would be offered the
contras for "any as-
sistance [the President]
deems appropriate " That is
generally- understood to
sm wdSM d The Cti1u Sdu10e MonU
President faces an uphill
Reagan fight in his effort to
have Congress approve $ 100 million in military and hu-
manitarian aid to the Nicaraguan "contras" over the next
18 months. Mr. Reagan formally submitted the new aid
package Thesdayy, saying in a message to the House and
Senate that the $27 million in aid Congress agreed to last
year was not enough.
More than 30 House members had asked the President
Reagan's new pitch to provide arms for `freedom fighters'
draws much the same opposition that stymied'85 request
ff+i- PeNt Osisdund the House."
But those pledged to fight for the administration's
proposal in Congress believe evidence of the increasingly
repressive nature of the Sandanista regime provides them
with some powerful ammunition.
"I do sense a somewhat different feeling today [among
lawmakers] that negotiations alone aren't going to get you
very much," says House minority leader Robert H. Michel
(R) of Illinois.
Some congressmen opposed to so-called lethal aid to the
contras said they would seek a prohibition of such help
Nicaraguan rebel trains riser Costa Rica border
while owing "humanitar-
ian aid " including such
nonmilitary items a food,
orms, an m c sup-
p es. think we've go e
votes sai en. David
Durenberger (R) of inne-
sota.
Ti one sense, the adminis-
tration is well positioned to'
exert pressure on a reluctant
Congress to increase the
amount of aid extended to
the rebels.
Congressional observers
cite the recent experiences in
the Philippines and Haiti -
where the United States pro-
vided the means for unpopu-
lar heads of state to remove
themselves from their coun-
tries - as foreign policy tri-
umphs for President Reagan
that have heightened his
standing on Capitol Hill.
Yet the peculiar condi-
tions of last year's vote - in
which the House executed a
dramatic about-face and
voted $27 million in humani-
tarian aid to the contras
shortly after Nicaraguan
leader Daniel Ortega trav-
eled to Moscow for consults.-
aid for the rebels fighting the Nicaragua's Marxist regime tions with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev - are not
say the proposal, as it now stands,'has almost no chance of likely to be present this year.
passing. "The Congress has five times rejected military Lawmakers who supported the rebel aid on the condi-
assistance to the contras," says Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D) tion that rebels improve their record on human rights
of Maryland, chairman of the House Subcommittee on violations have been disappointed by what they see as a
Western Hemisphere Affairs. "I don't think this can pass lack of progress in that regard.
Those opposed to military
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201660059-4