Bipartisan Contra Aid Bill Proposed : $48-Million Plan Includes Delivery of Previously Purchased Munitions

Spurred by the Nicaraguan offensive on the Honduran border, a bipartisan group of Senate moderates Friday launched an effort to break the congressional stalemate on Contra aid, introducing a $48-million assistance package that would include delivery of some already purchased military supplies for the rebels.

Despite repeated failures in the last two months to draft an aid plan that Congress would approve, many legislators--including liberal opponents of such assistance--believe that chances of passage have improved because of the current circumstances in the region and the support of influential senators from both parties.

Sponsors of the plan are hoping for a Senate vote next week, though they concede that they have no guarantee a vote can be scheduled so quickly.

‘A More Critical Situation’

“With the Sandinista attack on the Contra forces, we’re in a much more critical situation,” said Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a chief sponsor of the new package.

“Given the changed circumstances, a lot of people are looking for some cover,” added Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.). “They don’t want to be left open to that nagging question: ‘Were you responsible for losing Nicaragua?’ ”

The Reagan Administration, which was deliberately left out of the negotiations on the new aid plan, withheld comment on it. Because of the controversy over the decision to send U.S. troops to Honduras, any public position from the White House could be counterproductive, Administration officials suggested.

Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, meanwhile, said that the troops sent to Honduras on Thursday in a show-of-force response to Nicaragua’s border incursion will probably be withdrawn within 10 days.

Prospects for passage of renewed Contra aid will depend heavily on what happens in Central America in the next few days, officials on both sides of the issue said. At the same time, confusion continues about what exactly is going on in the region now.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, for example, said that according to the latest government estimates, the number of Nicaraguan soldiers in Honduras remains at 1,500 to 2,000, adding, “We have no indication that they have gone.”

Told of Sandinista Pullback

But congressional sources, briefed by Administration officials, said that the Sandinista troops have begun withdrawing to Nicaragua and that the pullback may have begun as early as Thursday and may have been completed by midday Friday.

A State Department official, speaking anonymously, confirmed that “there is evidence they are disengaging,” though he warned that the withdrawal could be a “feint.”

Boren said the best intelligence estimate is that the Sandinistas have begun withdrawing and “did not accomplish all their objectives”--capturing Contra supplies, destroying command centers and delivering a “death blow” to the rebel forces. The maximum penetration into Honduran territory was “less than 10 kilometers,” Boren added, though he insisted that the incursion was “totally different” and considerably more serious than past border raids.

Given the confusion and the fluid nature of the battlefield situation, both the White House, which in the past has wanted more aid than the new proposal would provide, and the House Democratic leadership, which has wanted less, remained noncommittal Friday on the new Senate proposal.

Neither of those two parties was directly involved in negotiating the new proposal. “It may be a sad commentary on the situation but we felt we could be more effective in this package if we had minimal contact with the Administration,” said Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a conservative Republican supporter of the Contras.

The new plan, which is backed by such influential senators as Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and former Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), would provide $48 million in humanitarian aid over the rest of the year.

Would Allow CIA Deliveries

It also would allow the CIA to resume shipping to the Contras roughly 1 million pounds of military equipment, worth $2 million to $5 million, that was left in stockpiles here and in Honduras when authority to deliver aid expired Feb. 29.

A final, and controversial, element of the plan would guarantee Reagan a quick vote on further military aid to the rebels if the military situation deteriorates further. White House officials have insisted that such a guarantee is absolutely crucial, but House leaders have firmly opposed it, saying they fear that the White House would abuse any such plan, inventing crises to increase the chances of winning military aid.

A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that “we just want to see how things develop” and how the House Democrats react to the proposal.

“There’ve been a lot of accusations in the last day or so, some of which haven’t been helpful,” he said. “You’ve got to let things cool down. You’ve got to let some steam get out.”

Link to Truce Talks

Wilson Morris, a spokesman for House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) said that much would depend on the results of the Nicaraguan cease-fire talks, which are scheduled to resume Monday in Sapoa, a Nicaraguan town near the border with Costa Rica.

“If we can get a cease-fire, we can get a humanitarian aid package through the House very quickly,” he said.

A cease-fire and a Sandinista withdrawal from Honduras could increase the chances for humanitarian aid but also would decrease the pressure for military assistance to the rebels just as rapidly as the Sandinista attack has now given impetus to the renewed military aid plan.

“Obviously, the Administration and those who favor aid have the upper hand now,” said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), one of the leading opponents of Contra aid. “The Sandinistas are stupid. They’ve once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”

But “this issue is one that’s been decided by a margin of six votes among 535 members of the House and Senate” and is subject to rapid swings as the news from Central America changes, he said. “Tell me what the headline is tonight, and I’ll tell you what the vote will be tomorrow.”

Added Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.): “As Yogi Berra once said, ‘It’s the same old deja vu all over again.’ ”

Staff writers Doyle McManus and William J. Eaton contributed to this story.