Administration Tells Plans to Reallocate Foreign Aid

Seeking more freedom in allocating foreign aid, the Bush Administration told Congress on Friday that it wants to divert to 35 countries about $250 million that had been earmarked by Congress for high-priority recipients, including Israel and Egypt.

President Bush, who protested that countries such as Bolivia and Jamaica stand to receive far less money than he requested for this fiscal year, has the authority to reallocate earmarked funds without congressional approval.

However, Secretary of State James A. Baker III sought the acquiescence of congressional leaders in the pending reallocation proposal as part of a broader bid to obtain more Administration control over the distribution of foreign aid.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said he went along with the request at a meeting with Baker, while Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) indicated that he had to check with other Democratic leaders. Baker also planned to meet with top House leaders.

The Administration proposal follows a related suggestion made earlier this week by Dole. The senator called for shifting at least $330 million from Israel, Egypt and three other recipients to drug-fighting countries in Latin America and to the “new democracies” in Panama and Eastern Europe.

Although different, the two proposals represent a concerted effort by the Administration and congressional Republicans to stimulate a new look at the size and control of the foreign aid budget at a time of turmoil in many areas of the world.

Five countries--Israel, Egypt, the Philippines, Turkey and Pakistan--were designated by Congress to receive more than two-thirds of the $9.6 billion in foreign aid reserved for specific countries.

As a result, many countries on Bush’s list of proposed recipients stand to receive no aid or “drastic” reductions from the previous year, Dole said. The Administration needs about $650 million to keep these 35 countries from being “shortchanged,” he added.

“Some of these countries are small but important,” the senator said. “Some face 20% reductions or would be zeroed out. . . . The ones that get hurt are the little ones, in Africa and South America, where they don’t have as much (political) leverage.”

Baker told Dole and Mitchell that the Administration is considering several formulas for trimming the aid totals designated by Congress for various countries. Dole indicated that individual trims probably would amount to less than 4%.

“They (Administration officials) feel it is going to send a very bad signal to a lot of countries if they can’t scrape up some dough,” Dole said.

The senator emphasized that the Administration can be expected to press hard for more control over foreign aid in this year’s session of Congress.