Bill to Aid Poland, Hungary Signed

President Bush signed into law a $14.6-billion foreign aid bill Tuesday night that includes the first cash in a promised three-year aid program for Poland and Hungary.

The measure includes $533 million in new aid for Poland and Hungary, aid that has become politically popular because of the wave of economic and political reform sweeping Eastern Europe.

About $293 million would be in cash, including support for new private enterprise and to stabilize Poland’s currency; the rest would come in trade and investment insurance.

The bill also includes $85 million in military aid for El Salvador, where a weeklong spate of intense warfare has prompted congressional calls for a re-examination of U.S. policy.

As usual, more than one-third of U.S. aid goes to the two parties to the Camp David peace accord, Israel and Egypt. Israel is due to receive $1.8 billion in military aid and $1.2 billion in economic aid, while Egypt will get $1.3 billion in military aid and $815 million in economic assistance.

Meanwhile, the New York Times, quoting Administration sources, reported that the United States will sharply curtail the admission of Poles and Hungarians as refugees because most of them no longer have any reason to fear persecution in their homelands.

The action would be likely to bar refugee status for at least 19,000 of the 20,000 Poles and Hungarians who have already filed applications, U.S. officials said. The others might qualify for immigration based on family ties to American citizens.