Two Congressmen took the House floor today to voice support for an amendment or special wording in the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee to restore Israel to the list of nations to receive direct United States grant assistance in the foreign aid program now before Congress.
Israel was stricken from the list of nations scheduled to receive grants-in-aid under the 1960 Mutual Assistance program on the grounds that the country had made so much economic progress the aid was no longer required. The grant-in-aid to Israel during 1959 was $7, 000,000.
Rep. Chester Bowles, Connecticut Democrat and former U.S. Ambassador to India, said that “the apparent cutback in aid to Israel under the Mutual Security program is disturbing to many of us.” He added that “I know of no nation that more clearly fits the standards… for the allocation of economic assistance. Israel is a symbol of what a free people can achieve.”
Rep. Bowles, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said “I am confident that this question will be fully explored in the Foreign Affairs Committee and consideration given to special language in the Committee report designed to correct this situation.”
Rep. Emilio Q. Daddario, Connecticut Democrat, told the House: “I understand the intention this year is to withdraw from Israel the direct aid provisions of the program… and to confine assistance to the development loan fund… which is very much restricted in amount.”
Rep. Daddario suggested that Israel be retained in the direct aid program. In his view, a program which had “achieved a marked degree of success should be continued to the point of certainty.” He asked whether “in an area as volatile as that in which Israel finds itself, should we not be certain that we have reached a successful conclusion before withdrawing from the challenge which faces us?”
Rep. Bowles was asked by Mr. Daddario if he agreed “that an amendment should be included to provide that Israel be not withdrawn from participation in this particular area, but that we should include it, taking into consideration all of the problems in that area which call for direct aid as part of the Mutual Security program.” Rep. Bowles expressed agreement.
Discussing the criteria for aid, Mr. Daddario said Israel was qualified in that the Jewish State had displayed willingness to make sacrifices “on its own behalf.”
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