Republicans Seek to Block Secret Talks on Resumption of U.S. Aid to Egypt

The Republican Coordinating Committee has moved to block a developing State Department plan to resume aid to Egypt, it was revealed today by Republican Party leaders. A number of Republican members of Congress endorsed a document of foreign economic assistance, containing a specific prohibition on unconditional aid to the Nasser regime, after learning that the Administration has quietly discussed resumption of aid in secret talks now in process in Cairo.

The Coordinating Committee of the Republican Party’s task force on foreign relations declared that “while not making aid conditional upon support of our foreign policy, aid should not ordinarily be forthcoming to those nations whose heads, like Nasser, engage in continual intemperate abuse of the United States, engage in military aggression or, in contravention of international law, harass American citizens engaged in commerce, or confiscate American-owned property without fair compensation.”

The Republican report was released by the party’s National Committee. It was prepared by a subcommittee headed by Ernest Griffith, former dean of American University in Washington. D.C., and former Ambassador Robert C. Hill. The report stressed, with reference to Nasser, that “aid and comfort should not be given by the United States to those who consistently help our enemies or the enemies of other free men. Nor should aid be given to those who rattle swords or engage in aggression.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Theodore R. Kupferman, New York Republican, today introduced a bill that would prohibit purchase of long staple cotton from nations like Egypt that have severed diplomatic relations with the United States. He pointed out that cotton represented over 35 percent of Egypt’s export trade and that such exports “bring foreign capital into Egypt, with which they can purchase military hardware for their aggressions against Israel.”

Rep. Kupferman cited Department of Agriculture statistics revealing that the United States has surplus of its own long staple cotton. He said: “I see no reason why the United States should continue to subsidize indirectly a nation whose enmity toward the United States is daily made obvious, and whose avowed goal is the destruction of Israel — a model of democracy, and one of our nation’s most stalwart allies.”