Reagan, Democrats Clash on Contra Aid

In a frequently tense exchange at the White House, President Reagan and congressional Democratic leaders clashed Tuesday over the future of U.S. aid to Nicaragua’s Contras, leaving the issue in disarray.

Reagan, meeting with leaders of both parties, thumped the oval table in the Cabinet Room with his fist, according to participants, to drive home his anguish over his failure to win continued support for the rebels.

Warning that the rebels are running short of supplies, he urged Democrats to schedule a vote this week on emergency aid and sought the power to trigger a quick congressional vote on future military aid to the Contras.

But Democrats, who labeled the meeting “tense,” rejected Reagan’s requests. They offered to hold another vote on their plan for humanitarian aid, which Republicans helped defeat earlier this month, but only if Reagan and Republican leaders agree to support it.

The Democrats also dug in their heels, according to congressional sources, on giving Reagan the power to schedule a future vote in Congress on military aid. Last month, House Democrats engineered the defeat of Reagan’s package of military and non-military aid to the rebels.

Administration officials sought to bring pressure on Congress to vote new Contra aid by declaring that Nicaraguan government forces have launched a major military offensive that could wipe out the under-supplied rebels.

At the White House meeting, according to presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, Lt. Gen. Colin L. Powell, the President’s national security adviser, told the congressional leaders that the Sandinistas appear to be preparing “to launch an all-out death blow” to the rebels.

“The next few weeks will decide the fate of the Contra forces,” Fitzwater said.

After the meeting, House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) was pessimistic that the two sides would soon resolve the matter.

“At this moment, we are not able to forecast the shape or character of any plan that would command enough votes to pass,” he said. “The only way to do this is with Republican support. There are some people (Republicans) willing to take a second look at this, but I don’t know if it’s enough.”

However, a meeting was scheduled today involving Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. in an effort to devise a compromise. Although Republicans voiced strong opposition to the Democrats’ most recent non-military aid plan, they have not come up with a counterproposal.