David Bell, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, was subjected today to intensive personal cross-examination by Rep. Seymour Halpern, New York Republican, in a private meeting with a select group of congressmen which turned into an inquiry into the wisdom of continued American aid to Egypt.
It was learned that Mr. Bell expressed concern over Egypt’s actions if aid were to be severed, and voiced fear that the situation would be worse. But he appeared to give serious consideration to the proposal by Rep. Halpern that standards of international conduct and morality be linked with aid.
Rep. Halpern is co-sponsor of the Keating-Halpern amendment which provides for severance of aid to nations which use their own resources to acquire Soviet arms. At the meeting with Mr. Bell, Mr. Halpern, supported by other members of the congressional group, insisted that Congress had an obligation to establish guidelines to be respected in the administration of the aid program abroad.
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