Chip, Chip, Chip

The U.S. Senate was chipping remorselessly away at the foreign aid program, and at week's end President Kennedy urgently called for a halt.

"There are those who find it politically convenient to denounce foreign aid with one breath and the Communist menace with another," said the President in a Manhattan speech before the Protestant Council of the City of New York, which gave him its first annual Family of Man Award. "I do not say there have been no mistakes in aid administration. I do not say it has purchased for us lasting popularity or servile satellites. I do say that it has substituted strength for weakness all over the globe, encouraging nations struggling to be free to stand on their own two feet. To weaken and water down the pending program, to confuse and confine its flexibility with rigid restrictions and rejections, will not only harm our economy; it will hamper our security. It will waste our present investment."

Less Than Lipstick? Noting that the Congress seemed set to cut at least $600 million from the $4.2 billion foreign aid authorization recommended by its Foreign Relations Committee, Kennedy asked: "Is this nation stating that it cannot afford an additional $600 million to help the developing nations of the world become strong and free--an amount less than this country's annual outlay for lipstick, face cream and chewing gum? Are we saying that we cannot help our 19 needy neighbors in Latin America with a greater effort than the Communist bloc is making in the single island of Cuba?"

State Secretary Rusk reinforced Kennedy's plea. Said Rusk at a televised press conference: "I am very much concerned about the tendency in the Congress to legislate foreign policy as it might apply to specific situations or specific countries. The legislative cycle moves a year at a time; the world moves very fast. It is not possible for the Congress to anticipate in advance what the circumstances are going to be in any given situation."

But for the foreign aid program, the situation may already have gone beyond remedy by words, no matter how reasonable. Not even a bipartisan effort by the Senate's leaders could stem the anti-foreign aid tide. In the vain hope of preventing worse cuts, Democratic Leader Mike Mansfield and G.O.P. Leader Everett Dirksen had agreed to drop $385 million from the $4.2 billion recommended by Foreign Relations. But the Senate went even farther, whacked $25 million from the Development Loan Fund, $125 million from the President's foreign aid contingency fund, reapplied $75 million of that to increase the Alliance for Progress authorization to $600 million--for an additional foreign aid loss of $75 million.

"Playboy Antics." After whittling down the dollars, the Senators had some strong opinions on how the remaining money should be used. Minority Whip Tom Kuchel proposed that no funds should go to nations that try to assert exclusive fishing rights beyond the three-mile off-shore limit recognized by the U.S. "What has happened off the coast of South America is positively shocking," said Alaska's Democratic Senator Ernest Gruening, referring to harassment of U.S. fishermen by Ecuador, Chile and Peru. "It is time for the United States to crack down hard." The amendment carried, 57 to 29.

Wisconsin Democrat William Proxmire moved to cut off aid to Indonesia unless the President declared that it was vital to U.S. interests. Cried Proxmire: "Millions of dollars of our previous aid to Sukarno have been wasted or used for Sukarno's own playboy antics rather than for improvement in his national economy." The Senate shouted its approval by voice vote. Proxmire then proposed a ban on all aid to Communist Yugoslavia, denying the President any discretion whatsoever. Again, voice approval followed quickly.

When Gruening moved to apply a similar ban on aid to Egypt, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman William Fulbright objected, proposed that the President be given discretion. "I do not think we in Congress should undertake to tie the President's hands," said Fulbright. The Senate rejected Fulbright's amendment, prohibited aid to Egypt. To make its general intent even clearer, added a ban on funds to any Communist-dominated country anywhere.

During the entire week, the Administration scored only one victory: the Senate did agree to restore presidential authority to give most-favored-nation tariff treatment to Yugoslavia and Poland. But still before the Senate are some 50 more amendments, almost all of them aimed at cutting foreign aid further.

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