Reagan-O’Neill Standoff Jeopardizing Contras Aid

Military aid for the Nicaraguan rebels is now in danger of being lost in a raw test of wills between President Reagan and House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.).

The political standoff that developed in the Democratic-controlled House this week raises doubts that the President can achieve what is clearly his chief legislative goal this year: $100 million in humanitarian and military aid for the rebels, known as contras , fighting the Marxist-led government in Nicaragua.

O’Neill said Thursday that House support for the contras aid package already was “starting to erode away” in the wake of the Republicans’ surprising decision to torpedo the bill Wednesday rather than bring it to a vote under the rules laid down by the Speaker.

Lost Opportunity

“The President had his best opportunity yesterday (Wednesday),” O’Neill said.

But Reagan still may be holding a trump card in his fight with O’Neill because the President’s persuasive powers strike fear in the hearts of Democrats running for reelection in conservative districts where his policies are extremely popular.

Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) said there are at least 25 conservative Democrats, mostly from the South, who desperately want an opportunity to ally themselves with Reagan on contras aid before facing the voters next November.

In short, the President is hoping that the Speaker’s firm stand against contras aid will eventually be undermined by nervous conservatives in the Democratic ranks.

Partisan Issue

Once viewed by members of Congress as a matter of individual conscience, the issue of contras aid recently has become highly partisan. White House Communications Director Patrick J. Buchanan succeeded in bringing it to a partisan boil earlier this year by portraying Reagan’s Democratic opponents as sympathizers of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government.

The debate also has grown into a very personal struggle between Reagan and O’Neill.

The President believes deeply that the contras are “freedom fighters” deserving of support. O’Neill is equally fervent in his view that $100 million would put the United States on the road to direct military involvement in Central America.

“This is the wrong policy, in the wrong place and at the wrong time,” O’Neill declared.

Friend of Maryknolls

Reagan’s views are derived from a strong conviction that the national security of the United States will be threatened unless the government acts to halt communist aggression in the hemisphere. O’Neill’s conviction stems in large part from a personal friendship with nuns of the Maryknoll order who have worked for years in Nicaragua.

To win congressional approval of contras aid, Reagan has relied on virtually every prerogative of the presidency--television speeches, personal visits with House members in the Oval Office as well as special favors for lawmakers who agree to vote with him.

But O’Neill so far has thwarted the President’s will by calling upon all the tools that he has at his disposal--the vast powers of the Speaker of the House. It was the Speaker’s bold use of his power to control the legislative process that Republicans were protesting Wednesday.

There is little doubt on either side of the aisle that the President’s aid package, as it was approved by the Senate on March 27, would pass the House if it ever were brought to a vote. And that is what O’Neill and his loyal partisans on the powerful House Rules Committee so far have prevented--a straight up-or-down vote on the Senate-passed measure.

Pork Barrel Bill

On Wednesday, the Republicans could have obtained a House vote on the Senate bill only after defeating an alternative measure authored by Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-Okla.) that had the support of conservative as well as liberal Democrats.

And even then, the measure would have been tied to a pork barrel appropriations bill that the President has threatened to veto. So instead of going that route, GOP leaders chose to scuttle the bill in hopes of getting a better opportunity later.

“If the Democratic leadership will give us an up-or-down vote,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Thursday, “we believe we can win on it.”

Yet the Republicans’ action--reflecting the deep sense of frustration felt by the 182-member minority whenever it confronts the Democratic majority--could easily backfire. Sources in the Democratic leadership said it had only increased O’Neill’s determination to keep the President from winning.

“I wondered who made the judgment,” mused O’Neill. “I think he shot himself in the foot.”

The Speaker noted that he is under no obligation to schedule another vote on contras aid and predicted that Republicans face a herculean task in seeking Democratic signatures on a discharge petition to bring it up again. O’Neill added that he might consider bringing contras aid to the floor later this year--perhaps tied to another spending measure opposed by Republicans.