Reagan Compromise Hinted on Contra Funding

President Reagan renewed his campaign Tuesday to restore non-military U.S. aid for Nicaraguan rebels but appeared ready to compromise with Congress over his earlier insistence that help be channeled through the CIA.

Reagan admonished Republican congressional leaders, during a private, one-hour meeting at the White House, that this could be “possibly our last opportunity” to pressure Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government into changing its policies, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said.

At the same time, Speakes accused the Nicaraguan regime of “increased aggressive behavior” against its Costa Rican and Honduran neighbors since the Democratic-controlled House handed Reagan an embarrassing foreign policy defeat April 23. It then scuttled efforts to provide $14 million in aid to the anti-Sandinista contras during the current fiscal year.

Reagan, in this latest fight, is going back to Congress with funding requests not only for fiscal 1985 but also for fiscal 1986, which begins Oct. 1. “We’re going to win this vote,” predicted one White House senior official, speaking on the condition he not be identified.

The official, echoing the views of several congressmen, said congressional sentiment turned in favor of the contras when Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega traveled to Moscow shortly after the House rejected Reagan’s funding request.

House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) told reporters after meeting with Reagan that Ortega’s trip “changed a great many minds.” But House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) said later that many Democrats are merely using Ortega’s journey to the Kremlin as a handy excuse for switching sides.

Vote Scheduled Today

The first congressional vote in the new battle is scheduled today in the Senate on a proposal backed by Reagan. That measure, sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), would provide the contras with $14 million in humanitarian aid during the present fiscal year and as much as $26 million in fiscal 1986.

Although the bill was still being drafted late Tuesday, Senate staff members said it could wind up prohibiting the CIA from administering the program. The CIA’s controversial supervision of U.S. aid to the contras has been at the center of criticism by opponents of Reagan’s Nicaragua policies.

The House is expected to vote Thursday on a proposal by Republicans and moderate Democrats to provide $27 million in aid for the contras through next March 31--and specifically forbid the CIA to administer it.

A rival measure by the House Democratic leadership would go even further, taking the aid completely out of the hands of the U.S. government and requiring that it be administered through the United Nations and the International Red Cross. In addition, the aid--limited to $14 million--could be provided only to Nicaraguan refugees.

Although Reagan prefers that the aid be distributed through the CIA, Speakes said, “We understand the legislative realities.”

Other officials, speaking anonymously, said the Administration is prepared to accept funneling the aid through some other agency of the President’s choosing.