House Leaders Agree on Contra Aid Package

House Democratic and Republican leaders, after months of intense bickering over U.S. policy in Central America, agreed Tuesday on a package of about $50 million in non-military assistance that would sustain the Nicaraguan rebels during the current peace talks with the Sandinista government.

The legislation, scheduled for a vote in the House today and in the Senate on Thursday, was drafted in response to President Reagan’s argument that the Nicaraguan government cannot be forced to make concessions in the peace talks if the United States unilaterally halts funding for the Contras.

Although some details are not yet resolved, negotiators said the measure would provide almost $20 million for food, clothing and other non-military aid to the Contras over the next six months; about $1.5 million for new communications equipment; almost $20 million for Nicaraguan children who were wounded or left homeless by the 6-year civil war, and about $10 million for a commission that is overseeing the current 60-daytruce in Nicaragua.

The package was the result of two days of negotiations between top Democratic and Republican leaders in the House. The two parties had been hopelessly divided over the issue of Contra aid until last week, when the Sandinista government and the Contras signed a 60-day truce agreement. The agreement specifically allows for continued U.S. non-military aid to the rebels.

Over the last two months, the House has rejected two other aid packages--one authored by the White House that would have revived direct military assistance to the Contras and the other a package of strictly non-military aid put forth by the Democrats. The Contras have received no U.S. assistance since Feb. 29.

Although Republicans did not insist that this package include military aid, as they have in the past, the GOP leadership demanded assurances from Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) that the Democratic-controlled House will promptly consider sending more weapons if the current peace talks break down. In response, Wright wrote a letter to Reagan pledging to give timely consideration to a military aid request under those circumstances.

CIA Role Opposed

The proposed legislation specifies that the new Contra aid will be funneled through the Agency for International Development, not the CIA, which previously has been entrusted with distributing military aid to the Contras. Liberal Democrats have staunchly opposed any CIA role in the process since it was learned last year that agency personnel had secretly helped supply the rebels with military equipment during 1985 and 1986, when such assistance was banned by Congress.

‘Neutral Party’ to Deliver Aid

Under terms of the current truce, the assistance will be delivered by a “neutral party” to be selected by the Contras and approved by a special commission headed by Joao Baena Soares, secretary general of the Organization of American States, and Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, mediator in previous negotiations.

But Republicans balked when Democrats sought to invest the commission with additional powers that were not part of the truce. Among other things, the Democrats wanted to give the commission authority to halt the distribution of U.S. aid at any time.

Although White House officials were not as deeply involved in the negotiations as they have been in developing previous Contra aid packages, the legislation clearly meets with the President’s approval. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Reagan is anxious to sign the measure.

“The issue is not money, but how fast we can get it,” Fitzwater said. “We want it as fast as we can get it.”

Despite the apparent bipartisanship in the negotiations, the agreement by no means settles the underlying quarrel between Republicans and Democrats on the issue of Contra aid. Democrats have long argued that U.S. aid was prolonging the war in Nicaragua; Republicans have contended that the Sandinistas would not have come to the bargaining table had the Contras not been receiving U.S. support.