New Contra Aid Request Called ‘Stupid Tactic’

The Reagan Administration’s new aid request for the Nicaraguan contra rebels is “a stupid tactic” that could undermine the Central American peace process, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House said today.

“The peace process should be allowed to work,” Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) told reporters on the Senate floor today.

Byrd said the new request could be perceived as a lack of Administration faith in negotiations whereas “the best hope is in the perception that the Administration has done its best.”

“It seems to me to be a stupid tactic for the Administration to seek contra aid prior to the date of Nov. 7,” by which time the Nicaraguan government is to initiate democratic reforms.

‘Disastrous Mistake’

House Majority Leader Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) voiced a similar view, saying, “It would be a disastrous mistake for the Administration to embroil the Congress and the country over a further military aid request for the contras while we’re in these critical days of negotiation.”

Rep. Trent Lott, the House minority whip, countered that the aid request is “an insurance policy” needed to pressure Nicaragua’s Sandinista government to follow through on its promise of democratic reform.

Lott (R-Miss.) also said a vote in Congress “is not going to occur now--it hasn’t been asked for, even. It will depend on the timing and what happens.”

The two congressmen appeared on NBC-TV’s “Today” program.