Senate Rejects Bid to Increase Philippine Aid

The Senate today rejected another attempt to increase U.S. aid to the Philippines after opponents said the move was “a backdoor” effort to kill aid to the contra rebels fighting Nicaragua’s leftist government.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 57 to 41 to table, and thus kill, the proposal to add $200 million to the Philippine aid package by taking that amount from the money earmarked for Central America.

The vote came as the chamber plowed through a huge, stopgap spending bill that appropriates money for much of the federal government, including foreign aid programs.

Agree on Need

On Monday, the Senate voted down, 51 to 43, a proposal to increase aid to the Philippines by $200 million by taking the extra aid from money intended for other nations, including African and Asian countries.

Both proposals were sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), who told his colleagues, “Everybody agrees we ought to make some more money available for the Philippines.”

But Sen. Mack Mattingly (R-Ga.) derided the latest proposal as “a backdoor attempt to kill aid” to Central America. That package includes $100 million in mostly military aid to the U.S.-backed contra guerrillas in Nicaragua along with $300 million to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica.

$505 Million Planned

The United States plans to provide $505 million to the Philippines in the current fiscal year, said Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), and an increase beyond that amount would have to be taken from other deserving nations.

After Philippine President Corazon Aquino made an eloquent speech to a joint congressional session last month asking for more help, the Democratic-controlled House responded the same day by narrowly approving $200 million in additional aid.

All the senators who spoke today agreed that the Philippines, a longtime U.S. ally, deserves more help.

But Dole said: “Nobody’s fooled by this maneuver. What this really is about is another way to kill aid to the contras.”