Senate Panel Approves Cutoff of Aid to Contras

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted narrowly today to halt U.S. aid to the anti-Sandinista Nicaraguan rebels in the first major test of sentiment in the 100th Congress toward the contra guerrillas.

The 11-9 vote went generally along party lines on the Democratic-controlled panel, sending to the floor a bill that even supporters admit will be vetoed by President Reagan--if it passes both the Senate and Democratic-controlled House.

“We’re passing a bill that’s going to be vetoed,” admitted Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.), one of the supporters of the measure.

But both supporters and opponents of the bill by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said the measure offers a vehicle for debate on U.S. policy in Central America.

Aid for Other Nations

While cutting off $40 million in U.S. aid to the contras this fiscal year, the bill would provide a package of $300 million worth of new aid to other Central American nations, including Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

In more than three hours of debate that preceded the final vote, supporters and opponents of aid to the contras repeated a number of the arguments heard in past Capitol Hill fights over the controversial issue.

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), an opponent, said “this is one of the most crucial war-peace issues” Congress will face this year. “Contra aid has failed,” he said. “The time to stop it is now.”

But Sen. Paul S. Trible Jr. (R-Va.), noting recent changes in the leadership of the contras, said: “Now is not the time to change our policies. . . . What we see is the reshaping of the resistance. We ought to play this hand out over the next year or so.”

‘Uncertainty in Leadership’

Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.) agreed. “Given the uncertainty in the contra leadership, it’s a mistake for us to address this now,” she told her colleagues.

Sen. Daniel J. Evans (R-Wash.), the lone Republican to vote for the aid cutoff, said Reagan would veto any attempt to halt contra aid “and we would be unable to override his veto.”

Today’s vote reflected the close division in the Senate on supporting the contras, who critics say cannot overthrow the Sandinista government and will eventually pull U.S. forces into the fighting.

Reagan denies that he plans to send U.S. forces into the conflict and says support for the contras will pressure Nicaragua to enact democratic reforms and oust its Soviet and Cuban military advisers.

Congress last year narrowly approved $100 million in military and other aid to the contras, and the final installment of $40 million is to be released within several weeks unless Congress votes to kill it.