White House to Seek Emergency Aid for Contras

With the Nicaraguan Contras beginning to run low on ammunition, medical supplies and food, the Reagan Administration announced Monday that it will press Congress this week to approve an emergency aid package for the rebels.

The request will be made to Democratic and Republican lawmakers today in a special meeting at the White House, and “the point that we will make . . . is that time is running out for the resistance,” presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

“Congress has made a commitment here, and they cannot afford to wait any longer or they are going to see a dying resistance,” he added. “We will say that we need a package immediately, and we need a vote immediately.”

Democrats Skeptical

But House Democratic leaders, who would have to approve any “fast-track” request, were skeptical about the new initiative. They complained that the White House has not indicated what kind of aid President Reagan is seeking and warned the Administration that there is no sentiment in Congress to keep rehashing the issue.

House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) said he has not been told by the President or his aides about any new request, adding that the only package he would support is the Democratic-backed plan providing only humanitarian aid that was defeated by the House earlier this month.

The Speaker said he will not bring that proposal up for a vote again unless Reagan pledges to support it this time. The package was narrowly defeated when several Democratic liberals opposed the plan at the last minute and a near-unanimous bloc of Republicans also voted against it.

Wright said he is not familiar with Administration reports that the Contras are running low on supplies and drastically curtailing their combat operations. All U.S. aid to the rebels was suspended Feb. 29.

“I am still ready to vote for and support the proposition we had on March 3, but I don’t want to run it out there again and be beat again,” Wright said. “If the President were to ask me to schedule something, I’d suppose he would have a moral obligation to help pass it.”

More important, Wright said, Congress would be likely to approve further aid only if the negotiations between the rebels and Nicaragua’s Sandinista rulers continued to make progress.

“If neither side is expending ammunition or killing people, then that might put an entirely different light on the sending of food and clothing,” he said. “It might make people (in Congress) more amenable.”

Even if those conditions were met, there would still be broad political differences in Washington, said California Rep. Tony Coelho (D-Merced), the House majority whip. He noted that “the White House was saying 10 days ago that they had defeated our plan and that was a good thing. . . . Now they’re back, saying they need Contra aid in a hurry. They can’t have it both ways.”

The biggest unresolved issue is whether the President would be able to get a quick, automatic vote in Congress on new military aid for the rebels if peace talks go sour. House members have narrowly rejected two bills with that quick-vote feature in the last two months.

Several members of the Senate, who are trying to launch a Contra aid proposal of their own, have said that the President’s ability to request a quick vote would be “absolutely crucial” to any plan. But Wright said there is great concern over such a proposal, adding, “I think it’s something that a majority of (House) members do not want.”

Times staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this story.