Several Senators commented today on Secretary of State William P. Rogers’ announcement yesterday that the administration was going to sell Israel 65 of the 125 planes she requested. Sen. Charles Goodell, Republican of New York, said that “something is clearly better than nothing,” but he hopes that the entire number of 125 planes would be forthcoming. Sen. Stuart Symington, Democrat of Missouri and one of the ten Senators who led the Senate into getting 75 signatures on a letter to Mr. Rogers asking for the planes, had no official comment, but aides in his office said he was happy he had been able to do something and he was “happy a small effort had been made to respond to the need.” Republican leader Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania said he was “encouraged,” but was not going to stop fighting for all the planes. “This is a step in the right direction,” Mr. Scott said. Sen. Vance Hartke, Democrat of Indiana, said he was “Pleased that action is finally being taken in this area, even though the number falls far short of what I feel is necessary. All we want is for Israel to have the means of maintaining its own self-defense.”
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