Senate Democrats Abandon Effort to Break Filibuster on Contra Aid

Senate Democrats, stopped by a filibuster, surrendered to the White House on Wednesday and abandoned their efforts to pass symbolic legislation suspending aid to the contra forces in Nicaragua.

Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) announced that no further attempt will be made to break the filibuster, giving Reagan two successive victories this year on the issue of providing military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels.

The Senate voted 54 to 46 to crack the filibuster, six short of the required 60 votes, after losing the first two tests on 46-45 and 50-50 votes.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) noted that the House, which approved the suspension of aid 230 to 196, and the Senate in Wednesday’s vote both mounted majorities against contra aid.

“The handwriting is on the wall that the current installment of U.S. military aid is the last installment.

“The Administration can draw no comfort from this filibuster,” Kennedy said. “If they persist in their present irresponsible course, they will learn next fall that the filibuster is on the other foot.”

And Byrd predicted that the $105 million in new aid proposed by Reagan “will have a hard time” later this year, pointing out that numerous factors--including investigations into the Iran-contra scandal--”can affect a lot of votes.”

The Senate, with Republicans and Southern Democrats leading the way, first freed the remaining $40 million in contra aid approved last year, then joined in the filibuster that stopped the House-passed resolution to suspend aid until a full accounting is made of money provided so far to the contras.

Even if Congress had voted to freeze the $40 million or won a suspension of aid, Reagan could have vetoed the measures, and Democrats conceded in advance that they could not have overridden him.

But the progression of votes gave no encouragement to the Administration’s plan to continue providing the contras with American aid.

Administration forces won the first test 52 to 48, but six senators shifted to vote against the filibuster. They were Sens. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), Alan J. Dixon (D-Ill.), David L. Boren (D-Okla.), John Heinz (R-Pa.), Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and John C. Stennis (D-Miss.).

“Obviously, we are not going to get cloture,” Byrd said, “so I don’t think there’s any point staying on this any longer.

“We’ve done our best . . . so we’ll move on to other things,” he said. “It’s clear the Republicans are not going to let us get an accurate accounting of the money. . . . There needs to be an accounting. There is no accounting.”