The House is expected to vote next Tuesday on a resolution asking President Reagan not to visit a West German military cemetery where members of the Waffen SS are buried.
Rep. Robert Torricelli (D. N.J.) has introduced a resolution as an amendment to the State Department’s appropriations bill. As of today, he had gathered 80 co-sponsors, according to his press assistant, Michael Hill.
Hill said that Torricelli hopes the resolution will convince Reagan that his visit to the Bitburg cemetery is “not in the best interests of the United States.”
However, aides to both Reagan and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl reiterated this week that the President plans to go through with the ceremony at the graves of German soldiers who died in World War II.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (R. Ka.), a wounded veteran of World War II, said this week that it would be a “mistake” for Reagan to go to the cemetery. But he indicated he would be opposed to any Senate resolution against the Bitburg visit.
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