REAGAN WILL SEEK ACCELERATED AID FOR EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230036-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: March 8, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230036-5 STAT
ARTICLE APFEAP]
ON FAGS
WASHINGTON POS
8 March 1984
eagan. Wffl
See
Accelerated Aid
F0FFji:Salyador
The highly controversial funding
request for El Salvador will cane in
the form of an amendment to an
emergency funding bill giving food
aid' to drought-stricken African na-
tions that is before the Senate Ap
propriations Committee; the con-
gressional sources said.
The parallel request for more aid
tp_viGarrpg rLrebels is under "active
consideration" at . the
the sources said, but they added that
reason wedgy:
telligence Committee leadersmclu l;,
ing Chairman Bar Goldwater
8i02_A"_=L
By Joanne 0mang .
and Walter Pincus
Washington Post. Staff writers
The Reagan administration, un.
gaming to wait while Congress de=i
bates its new aid plan for Central;
America, %U ask 0049
tee today f o r $ 93 million in acceler-'
ated military assistance for El Sal-,
valor an may request another~17
million for covertd to rebel forces
in Nicaragnaaccodingos~s
has been so negative that the idea
m_ay be_reconsidergcL
News of the new effort to move
the Latin aid requests through Con-
gress came as, separately, members
of a House subcommittee balked at
providing a proposed $8.7 million for
Army and Air Force "contingency fa-
cilities" in Honduras, which would
be part of a planned overall 50 per
cent increase in Pentagon construc-
tion worldwide.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanjD.N.Y),
Ariz~and ranking?minorit~memher, i
Documents obtained - by-, The
Washington Post describe the facil-
ities as a barracks and hangar for a
U.S. Army'aviation unit and cement
storage igloos for large quantities of
ammunition, bombs and rockets.
In a remark that appeared to sum
up the mood of many members, Rep.
William V. (Bill) Alexander-Jr. (D- I
Ark.) of the House Appropriations
'subcommittee told Pentagon officials
'that no funds will be forthcoming for,
Honduras until the administration
submits a much-delayed report out-
lining construction plans for that
country.
"We, in the Congress and the'
American people are literally in the
dark about what our government is
doing in Central America," he said.
Both proposals are also certain to
anger House Foreign Affairs Com-
mittee- Democrats who failed again
yesterday to reach agreement on the
overall Central America aid plan.
Determined to produce a foreign'
aid bill this year, Chairman Dante B.`. "
Fascell (D-Fla.) has sought to soften
recent conditions put on.the aid by a
subcommittee "from very, very, very
tough down to just tough," a com-
mittee aide said. The committee is
expected to act today.
Administration officials have been
warning for weeks that the $45 mil-
lion appropriated for 1984 military
aid to El Salvador is running out '
quickly.
With Salvadoran presidential elec-
tions due to begin March 25, the of-
ficials said that they expect a major
leftist guerrilla offensive and fear
that Salvadoran armed forces, wor-
ried about diminishing supplies of
weapons and ammunition, will be
unwilling to respond adequately.
The administration has asked for
$178 million in additional 1984
funds for El Salvador and $132.5
million for 1985, but no bill, is ex-
pected to emerge until June or July.
A-White House official, explaining
the effort to seek emergency fund-
ing, said, "We would hate to lose El
Salvador for the want of a nail"
The administration is similarly
running out of funds for Nicaraguan
rebels.. After long, bitter debate,
Congress appropriated-$24 million
last year for covert 1984 aj?zibg,
"contras," knowing that the ajd
would run out in May or June ark,
e icitlv demanding apDrrgvald'?aL-
ditional funds by the intellligenee
committees.
CIA Director William J. Casey
and Seretary, of State repige- ,~.
Shultz are appeartoday
fore
yhe Senate Intelligence Committee
to discuss addition al_mo. But
news of 'the tentative plan to evade
the committee changed the agenda.
"To say Goldwater was angry is
putting it very mildly, and Moyni-
han was even worse," a source close
to the committee said.
An emergency administration pro-
posal for the Nicaraguans may come
during a closed Appropriations Com-
mittee session and would seek to at-
tach the $17 million addition to a
bill providing money to states to
help pay low-income users' utility
bills. That measure and one aiding
Africa are considered hard to op-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230036-5