Senate OKs Contra Aid, Sends Bill to President

The Senate overwhelmingly approved a $47.9-million non-military aid package for Nicaragua’s Contras on Thursday, temporarily ending the partisan wrangling over an issue that has bitterly divided the White House and Congress for the last four years.

On an 87-7 vote, the Senate endorsed the aid package that was approved Wednesday by the House. President Reagan is expected to sign the measure into law today, guaranteeing that the rebels soon will begin receiving food, medicine, clothing and other supplies while they try to negotiate a permanent cease-fire with Nicaragua’s Sandinista leaders.

“No one is an oracle here. No one can predict what will happen,” said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), noting that the Nicaraguan talks have entered a volatile stage. “But you have to keep trying to establish peace. That’s what this is all about, to give these negotiations a chance.”

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said that the non-military aid package will not disrupt the week-old truce in his country’s civil war. He challenged the United States to become more involved in the peace process, calling for direct talks between the two nations.

He also warned about the possibility of new military aid to the Contras, saying: “Today, Reagan got the humanitarian aid he wanted, but tomorrow another package could be passed, one that includes military aid. There are further threats from the United States that will continue, as will the pressure from that country.”

Hail Senate’s Vote

For the moment, Democratic and Republican leaders hailed the Senate’s vote, calling it a rare display of unity in U.S. policy toward Central America. But other members said that they supported the resolution reluctantly. Depending on their point of view, critics said that the non-military aid was either too little to sustain the rebels or a step toward wider U.S. involvement in the Nicaraguan conflict.

Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.) charged, for example, that the failure of Congress to provide military aid to the Contras will be remembered “as one of the gravest mistakes in U.S. foreign policy ever made. . . . It’s an error we will regret for many years to come.”

On Feb. 3 the House voted against a package containing military aid for the rebels, effectively ending all U.S. assistance as of Feb. 29. Boren, who subsequently proposed a package of Contra aid that included military assistance, said that hard-core Contra supporters had no choice but to support the non-military aid plan, because without it the rebels could not negotiate successfully with the Sandinistas.

He also conceded that there are not enough votes in Congress now to approve new military aid. Both sides agreed that Congress has to comply with the truce agreement, which specifically rules out military aid by the United States to the rebels while peace talks continue.

Still, Contra supporters said the Sandinistas could not be trusted to negotiate in good faith and suggested that the current talks may only be a temporary lull in the civil war.

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) said: “We are skeptical (that the peace talks will succeed), but we are again giving negotiations a chance. It is within the discretion of the Sandinistas to make these talks succeed or fail.”

Critics Blast Bill

Meanwhile, critics of the Contras denounced the legislation as a strategy reminiscent of early U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. They said that Congress will rue the day it kept the rebels together as a fighting force, especially with peace talks under way.

“I have a terrible feeling of having been here before,” said Sen. Brock Adams (D-Wash). “I am reminded of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution of 1964 . . . the landing of the Marines at Da Nang in 1965.” President Lyndon B. Johnson used the resolution as the chief constitutional authorization for the escalation of U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.

Adams, who voted against the Contra aid bill, said that “the real purpose of this is to maintain the Contras as a viable fighting force for another day. But I want the peace process to work. We are again in the position of supporting a military force in a war without victory.”

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), who also opposed the bill, said the Contras do not deserve U.S. assistance because they are waging a “terrorist war against the Nicaraguan people.”

Key to Contras Decision

He noted that the House vote to end military aid to the rebels “proved a key factor in the Contras’ decision to sign the cease-fire agreement and to hold negotiations. . . . We should not resume any form of aid until a peace agreement has been signed.”

Sponsors of the bill stressed that it provides only non-military aid, in compliance with the terms of a temporary cease-fire agreement hammered out by the Contras and Sandinistas. Under the legislation, the aid will be delivered by the Agency for International Development, while both sides observe a 60-day truce.

The bill will provide $17.7 million in non-military aid for the rebels, $17.7 million for children who have been maimed or wounded as a result of the civil war, $10 million to fund the commission overseeing the Nicaraguan truce and $2.5 million for administration of the program carried out by AID officials.

Before the Senate debate began, Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) promised Republican leaders that he would quickly schedule a vote on an Administration request for military aid to the Contras if the peace talks break down or if the Sandinistas are found to have violated the conditions of the truce agreement.

Earlier, House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) made a similar pledge to Reagan and other Republican leaders.