Aid Plan for Contras Faces Strong Foes, Reagan Told

President Reagan was told today that congressional opposition remains strong to his plan for giving $14 million to the rebels fighting the leftist government of Nicaragua, and that top Republicans are groping for a compromise to gain approval for his aid proposal.

But Reagan responded that he stands behind his aid plan for the contras, according to White House spokesman Larry Speakes.

House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming told reporters after an hourlong session with Reagan that the Senate appears ready to approve the President’s plan next week, but that the outcome of the vote in the Democrat-controlled House is in doubt.

“I reminded the President that in my judgment (House Speaker Thomas P.) O’Neill has put his feet in concrete” on the issue, Michel said.

The Republican leader said he has been searching for some kind of alternative to the $14-million aid request that might gain the approval of doubting Democrats and “give us some running room.”

On Capitol Hill today, former CIA Director Stansfield Turner said Congress should reject Reagan’s proposal because it is based on “a dead-end policy.”

“The Nicaraguan communists are not an immediate threat to the United States and its interests in Central America,” Turner said of the Sandinista government.

Nor, he said, is “Nicaragua a good springboard for exporting revolution to her neighbors.”

Turner, who served at the CIA under former President Jimmy Carter, testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

He said Congress should approve a 120-day freeze on aid to the contras seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government, and then reassess whether to approve the $14 million now sought by Reagan.