Congress Seeks Control of Purse Strings, Larger Role in Gulf Operations : Policy: Sen. Byrd warns of a ‘huge slush fund’ accumulating for Pentagon from allied contributions.

An increasingly restive Congress moved Thursday to claim a larger role in the management of the Persian Gulf crisis as key senators demanded that the Bush Administration surrender control of billions of dollars contributed to the U.S. military effort by allied nations.

Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Armed Services and Appropriations committees said they will press legislation next week to prevent the Pentagon from setting up what Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) called a “huge defense slush fund” expected to total more than $10 billion.

The Defense Department, in seeking a supplemental appropriation to pay for the initial costs of the massive U.S. deployment in the gulf, has asked for broad authority to spend contributions from Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany and other allies as it sees fit.

But Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) said he is introducing a bill with other senators that would “ensure that one of the most important of the constitutional powers bestowed on the Congress, the power of the purse, be properly exercised.”

The proposed legislation underscored increasing signs that lawmakers want more oversight of the U.S. role in the Persian Gulf crisis. A key senator called for consideration of a resolution defining the scope of the U.S. deployment and a Pentagon proposal to sell Saudi Arabia more than $20 billion in arms has encountered stiff resistance on Capitol Hill.

In separate developments Thursday, the Pentagon announced the call-up of more than 7,000 additional reservists, including some California units, to provide key support services in the gulf deployment. The White House, meanwhile, said that President Bush will meet next week with the exiled emir of Kuwait and the president of Turkey.

The funds control measure to be introduced by Warner, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, would give Congress the same control over the allied contributions that it now enjoys over every other spending decision of the government.

Other sponsors include Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), Appropriations Committee Chairman Byrd and Appropriations’ ranking Republican, Sen. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.).

The senators said they will move to attach the measure to the supplemental money bill when the Senate Appropriations panel acts on it next Tuesday. The House Appropriations Committee may take the same action before then, Byrd said during a discussion on the Senate floor.

Byrd noted that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney is seeking even broader discretion to use the foreign funds than he already enjoys under a 1954 law permitting the United States to accept gifts for defense purposes.

“The sweeping new authority,” Byrd said, “would, in effect, create a huge defense slush fund dwarfing any comparable off-budget, off-constitutional exercise that was previously engaged in.”

That was an obvious allusion to the Reagan Administration’s Iran-Contra operation, in which proceeds from arms sales to Iran were secretly used to support the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Asked about the funds control issue, Deputy White House Press Secretary Roman Popadiuk said: “We obviously will consult with Congress regarding certain technicalities” relating to the foreign gifts.

Although Warner and other lawmakers continued to express general support for President Bush’s actions in the crisis, members of Congress began moving in several ways to assert congressional prerogatives.

Hatfield insisted in a floor speech that Congress adhere to the 1973 War Powers Act and either set limits on the Operation Desert Shield deployment or call the troops home.

Noting that Congress’ relatively passive involvement in Vietnam War policy led to passage of the war powers measure, Hatfield declared that “the President and Congress must be full partners when the lives of our young people are on the line.”

Hatfield conceded, however, that Congress is likely to pass a resolution that “sounds tough but actually does little more than offer a rhetorical endorsement of the existing policy.”

Meanwhile, the Pentagon ordered 7,106 more reserve soldiers and airmen to report for active duty in the crisis. The increase brings to 21,653 the number of National Guard and Reserve forces now activated in connection with Operation Desert Shield.

Cheney has indicated that nearly 30,000 more reservists can be expected to get the call soon.

Officials said the reservists’ roles may begin to change in coming months, as the Pentagon looks to rotate active-duty combat forces out of Saudi Arabia for a respite from the arduous desert conditions.

To date, reservists called to duty have been concentrated in support roles such as flying transport planes, managing the flow of equipment and guarding staging bases. Those called up Thursday also fall into those categories, providing airlift support, ground transportation, water supply services and ammunition handling.

But partly in response to pressure from Congress, the Pentagon may activate combat reserves such as infantrymen, tankers and combat aviators, officials said.

California units activated Thursday are the 349th Military Airlift Wing at Travis Air Force Base and the 224th Transportation Detachment at Los Alamitos, the 2260th Transportation Company in Fresno, the 419th Quartermaster Battalion Headquarters Detachment in Van Nuys and the 316th Quartermaster Company in San Diego.

In addition, 26 Air Force Reserve aircraft mechanics will be activated for 90 days effective today at Norton Air Force Base to provide support in the military confrontation with Iraq, officials at the San Bernardino base said Thursday.

The reservists, members of the 445th Military Airlift Wing, are the first to be activated at Norton, a prime staging area for the shipment of personnel and equipment for Operation Desert Shield. The reserve mechanics will remain on duty at Norton, an Air Force spokesman said.

The Pentagon did not say how many of the reserves will be sent to the gulf and how many will be kept in the United States.

The White House announced that Bush will meet a week from today with Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah, the emir of Kuwait who fled when Iraq invaded Aug. 2.

“The visit will provide an opportunity to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Kuwait’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Popadiuk said.

Bush, meanwhile, is known to want to travel to the region and to visit the troops in Saudi Arabia. White House officials have indicated a likely opportunity for such a visit would be Thanksgiving, a day after the President is expected to conclude participation in a three-day summit conference in Paris at which a conventional weapons reduction treaty is to be signed.

Bush is scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Turgut Ozal of Turkey, an early supporter of the U.S.-led opposition to Iraq. Bush also is meeting that same day with another North Atlantic Treaty Organization leader, Prime Minister Cavaco Silva of Portugal.

Times staff writers Norman Kempster, Melissa Healy, James Gerstenzang and Maura Reynolds contributed to this report.