The House of Representatives last night approved a record foreign aid money bill of $7.17 billion and sent it to the Senate with funding intact for Israel and Egypt and nothing for Syria. Funds were approved for Lebanon and Jordan but they face slight cuts under an amendment reducing military aid except for Israel.
The appropriations legislation, adopted by a vote of 223 to 167, reduced by more than a billion dollars the total wanted by President Carter who had asked for $8.4 billion.
The House specifically exempted Israel from reductions in the military and economic supporting assistance categories and Egypt was exempted from a cut in economic aid, as was Jordan. Under the bill, Israel is to get $1 billion in military aid and $785 million in economic assistance. Egypt is to get $750 million. Jordan will receive $93 million in economic aid but the $150 million in military assistance faces some reduction, as does Lebanon’s earmarked aid of $25 million, because of the 20 percent military credit reduction voted by the House in the total for such assistance.
It is up to the Carter Administration to determine where to make those reductions. The more than one billion dollars reduced from the original Carter request is on international banks and assistance to Cuba and Vietnam. Syria had been earmarked by the Carter Administration for $90 million but the House had previously amended its bill to eliminate funds for Syria because of the attacks by Syria’s “peace-keeping” forces against the Lebanese Christian militia.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on foreign aid will not take up the measure until after the Congress returns on Sept. 5 from its summer recess. While the Senate is expected to accept the House figures for Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, there is some uncertainty about the elimination of Syria. The Carter Administration is waging a hard fight to continue support for Syria.
Meanwhile, at the State Department today, spokesman Hodding Carter said “clearly we hope Congress will find a way to restore” the funds for Syria which the House cut off two weeks ago. At the White House, however, Deputy Press Secretary Rex Granum praised the House for its bill. “This bill makes it possible for the U.S. to fulfill its obligations throughout the Third World,” he said.
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