Congress Approves First Panama Aid Installment

Congress gave formal approval Wednesday to the first installment of the Bush Administration’s new $1 billion aid-to-Panama package, paving the way for signing by the President by the end of the week.

Identical versions of the measure cleared both the House and Senate by voice vote, reflecting a desire by members of both parties to speed the aid package to invasion-racked Panama, which has been suffering since 1988 under U.S. economic sanctions.

The measure, approved by the appropriate committees in each house Tuesday, authorizes $42 million in emergency economic aid for Panama. It also restores a bevy of trade benefits and loan guarantees that could be worth as much as $500 million.

Bush has said he will submit separate legislation later this month requesting another $500 million in direct aid to help Panama’s new government create new jobs and rebuild roads and bridges that were damaged during the invasion or allowed to deteriorate during the period sanctions were in force.

However, congressional strategists said Wednesday that this measure is likely to take more time to push through Congress. Bush has said he plans to divert the money from other programs in the budget, and the lawmakers are not likely to agree on which other programs should be deprived.

The legislation passed Wednesday includes $32 million in direct appropriations and $10 million in loan guarantees to help rebuild homes and stores that were destroyed during the U.S. invasion in late December and the looting by Panamanians that followed.

It also authorizes the Administration to redirect $9 million in military aid to Panama that Congress approved earlier to buy uniforms, communications equipment and small arms for Panama’s newly created civilian police force, which replaced the old Panama Defense Forces.

In the debate Wednesday, lawmakers in both houses argued that the aid package is necessary to help ensure that Panama remains a democracy.

“Panama is on the right (path),” said Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), the Senate minority leader. “This package will help keep it there.”

However, members also expressed chagrin about reports that Panama’s new government is reluctant to take any major steps to prevent money laundering by the nation’s banks, which have served as financial havens for drug traffickers.

The trade benefits that the two houses voted to restore Wednesday were suspended in March, 1988, when then-President Ronald Reagan imposed sanctions on Panama as part of a U.S. effort to drive out strongman Manuel A. Noriega.

They range from restoration of duty-free status for Panamanian exports to revival of Panama’s allocation under the U.S. sugar-import program.

The second package, which the Administration plans to submit later this month, will go to finance major public works projects designed to create jobs and rebuild roads. It also will inject new cash into Panama’s once-flourishing banking system.

The House also approved, on a vote of 389 to 26, a resolution praising Bush for ordering U.S. forces to intervene in Panama. And it commended the President’s efforts to bring U.S. forces home from Panama soon.

There were some dissenters. Rep. Don Edwards (D-Calif.) condemned the President’s action, saying it was “unwise and illegal” and “violated all of our treaties and agreements wherein we are bound not to intervene militarily in another country.”