REAGAN WILL SEEK ACCELERATED AID FOR EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440103-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 103
• Publication Date: March 8, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27 :CIA-RDP90-005528000404440103-3
ARTICLB APPEARED
ON PAGE.....
WASHINGTOW P0~
8 fiarch 1984
eagan mill Seel
Accelerated Aid
For El Salvador
By Joanne Omang .
and Walter Pincus '
W~hlneton PoatStti! Wrtten
The Rea?an administration, un?
~1_ine to wait while Congress de=i
bates its new aid Alan for Central
America,_a~ll ask a Senate commit-!
tee today for $93 million in acceler-'
a~militar~ assistance for El Sal-
vedo`r~ may request another 17
-million for covert aid to rebel fords'
in Nicara~a~~cliDg~p.~
sion~g -
The highly controversial funding
request for II Salvador will cgpne in
the form of an amendment to an
emergency funding bill giving food
side to drought-stricken African na-
tions that is before the Senate Ap-~
propriations Committee; the oon-
gressional sources said. -
The arallel nest for more aid
ko icAr~ re s is +q gr "active
consideration" at the~W ~,e.~~,
the sources said but the added that i
reaction ~~l~enA
telliaence Committee le~lgra.m~lu~,;
ing Chairman Barry_Goldwatgr ,jR:
Ariz~an~ ranking_minority_meml er,
Daniel Patrick M_oyn_ihan.lD~N.Y),'
dies been so negative_ that, the idea
may lie_reconsidered. ~ ~;
NeaS of the new effort to move
the Latin aid requests through Con-
gress came as, separately, members
of a House subcommittee balked at
providing a proposed $8.7 million for ;
Army and Air Force "contingency fa-
cilities" in Honduras, which would
be part of a planned overall 50 per-,
cent increase in Pentagon construc-
tion worldwide.
Documents obtained., by .The
Washington. Poet ~lescnbe the . facil-
~ities as a barracks and hangar for $
U.S. Army"aviation unit and cement
storage igloos for large quantities of
ammunition, bombs and rockets.
In a remark that appeared to sum
up the mood of many members, Rep. '~
William V. (Bill) Alexander Jr. (D- j
Ark. of the House Appropriations !
subcommittee told Pentagon officials
that no funds will be forthcoming for,
Honduras until the administration
submits amuck-delayed report out-
lining construction plans for .that
country.
"We. in the Congress and tbe
American people are literally in .the
dark about what our government is
doing in Central America," he said.
_ Both proposals are also certain to
anger House Foreign Affairs Com? .l
mittee`Democrats who failed again !
yesterday to reach agreement on the
overall Central America aid Plan.
Determined to produce a foreign
aid bill this year, Chairman Dante B.`.
Fascell (D-Fla) has sought to soften
recent conditions put on.the aid by s
subcommittee "from very, very, very
tough down to just tough," a com-
mittee aide said. The committee is
expected to act today.
Administration officials have been
warning for weeks that the $45 mil-
lion appropriated for 1984 military
aid to II Salvador is running out
quickly.
With Salvadoran presidential elec-
tions due to begin March 25, the of-
ficials said that they expect a major.
leftist guerrilla offensive and fear
that Salvadoran armed forces, wor-
--~ Tied about diminishing supplies of
weapons and ammunition, will be
unwilling to respond adequately.
The administration has asked for
$178 million in additional 1984
funds for II Salvador and $132.5
million for 1985, but no bill.is ex-
pected to emerge until June or July. ~
A;i~'hite House official, explaining
the effort to seek emergency fund- ~i
ing, said, "We would hate to lose El
Salvador for the want of a nail"
The administration is similarly
running out of funds for Nicaraguan
rebels.. After lone, bitter debate.
Congress appropriated $24 million
last vear for covert 1984 aid to the
"contras," knowing that t e aid .
would run out in Ma or Jun ar,~,
e_p icit v emandina apDr val of ad-
ditional funds by the intell~enee
committees. .
CIA Duector William J. Casev
and Secretaryrof St?~_~gorge,,,,,P.
Shultz are to appear todav before
~e._,Senate Intelli e? nce Committee
to discuss additional mQpgy. But
' news of-the tentative plan to evade
the committee changed the agenda.
"To say Goldwater was angry is
putting it very mildly, and Mo}mi-
han was even worse," a source close
to the committee said.
An emergency administration pro-
. ~ posal for the Nicaraguans may come
during a closed Appropriations Com?
mittee session and would seek to at-
tack the $17 million addition to a
bill providing money to states to
help pay low-income users' utility
bills. That measure and one aiding
Africa are considered hard to op-
P~-
~.~.lN.~J1rtI~
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27 :CIA-RDP90-005528000404440103-3