The Senate this afternoon restored $35 million to its allocation for Soviet emigrants in adopting its foreign aid authorization bill for the fiscal year which began July 1. Sen. Hugh Scott (R. Pa.), the Republican leader in the Senate, called for the increase in the authorization from $50 million to $85 million as originally recommended by bipartisan sponsors. With bipartisan backing again today, the Scott amendment was voted 56-32. The bill as a whole was passed narrowly by 46-41.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in preparing new authorization legislation after the Senate killed a previous authorization measure on the Vietnam issue, had cut the amount for the Soviet refugees from $85 million to $50 million.
The House, which had also originally authorized $85 million, adopted the $50 million figure without a floor fight by the sponsors of the higher figure. Tomorrow, the Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to consider the final version of its appropriation measure which is required to fund the provision of the authorization legislation.
The authorization measure approved in the Senate today also contains provisions allocating up to $300 million in military sales credit for Israel and a grant of $50 million in economic support, plus an unspecified grant for American schools and hospitals in Israel. The latter is expected to total about $3 million. These provisions are virtually identical to the House legislation.
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