A question of whether the Administration can muster enough Senate votes to defeat the anti-Nasser amendment passed by the House loomed today as senators took the floor to serve notice that they will not heed Secretary of State Rusk’s pro-Egyptian appeal.
Sen. Wayne Morse, Oregon Democrat, said in a Senate speech that he would support and fight for the House amendment severing shipment of surplus commodities to Egypt. The amendment is attached to an agriculture appropriations bill. The senator stated that “when Col. Nasser spit in the eye of the United States, “Nasser himself terminated the 1962 surplus commodity agreement.
Sen. Morse said that an anti-aggression amendment incorporated into foreign aid legislation two years ago, if heeded by the Executive Department, would have already been applied because of Egyptian offenses. According to the senator, Nasser’s insults, aggression, and attacks on American property proved that “those who demand tribute from the United States will get away with it.”
Sen. Frank J. Lausche, Ohio Democrat, agreed that Congress must not permit United States aid to flow to a nation “slapping us in the face.” He said American assistance must be terminated to those “who tear down our flag, attack our embassies and burn down our libraries.”
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