Senators Request Ending U.S. Aid to Egypt; State Department Disagrees

The severance of American aid to Egypt was urged today in the Senate by a number of Senators as a result of the recent anti-American acts which took place in Egypt which culminated in President Nasser’s outburst at a public meeting that the United States can “jump in the ocean.”

Sen. John G. Tower. Texas Republican, introduced an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act providing for mandatory severance of further aid to Egypt. The Senator said Egypt has displayed a “go to hell attitude” toward the United States and that American self-respect demanded that all aid to the Nasser regime be terminated at once.

Sen. Herman Talmadge, Georgia Democrat, urged President Johnson to shut off further aid to Egypt immediately. He said “it sticks in my throat” to aid nations, which “scorn and thwart our foreign policy at every turn.”

Sen. Hugh Scott. Pennsylvania Republican, urged Congress to end foreign aid to nations, like Egypt, “whose policies attempt to humiliate and undermine American policy, prestige, and power,” He told the Senate that “the U.S. Government has for too long condoned the irresponsibility of these governments and has assisted them despite their hostile words and hostile posture. The time has come to suspend further assistance to governments which misuse our aid programs in order to weaken the United States.

At the same time. Phillips Talbot, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, today advocated continued aid to Egypt as an “effective tool” in influencing the Nasser regime’s military preparations in a peaceful direction.

In a letter to Rep. Seymour Halpern. New York Republican, Mr. Talbot said “as far as the UAR is concerned, one of the few effective tools we have to influence its government toward this objective, as well as responsible policies in other areas, is our P. L. 480 (Aid) Program.”