House Slashes $300 Million From Peacekeeping Funds : Defense: The cuts from the appropriations measure reflect apprehension over the situation in Somalia.

In a sign of growing concern over the U.S. role in Somalia, the House on Thursday stripped $300 million in peacekeeping funds from the $240-billion defense spending bill for next year.

The decision to eliminate all but $38 million that the Clinton Administration had sought for future humanitarian and peacekeeping operations came as the House made a series of cuts before passing the 1994 defense appropriations bill, 325 to 102.

A more serious challenge was averted when the lawmakers deleted a provision that would have barred the use of defense funds for peacekeeping operations unless the President provided advance notification of each mission’s costs, objectives and duration.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.) warned that President Clinton might veto the defense bill if those restrictions were not removed. He urged his colleagues not to act “too quickly on a very grave matter.”

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, who championed the restrictions, agreed to remove them. But he was not pleased.

“If the restrictions come out, the money comes out,” he declared before the House decided by voice vote to cut $300 million of the $338 million that Murtha’s subcommittee had included in the bill for peacekeeping.

Passage of the defense bill came amid a last-minute rush of legislative action on new spending bills as the current fiscal year drew to a close Thursday.

In related action, the Senate approved and sent to Clinton a foreign aid bill that lifts restrictions on dealing with the Palestine Liberation Organization and includes $2.5 billion in aid for Russia and the other states of the former Soviet Union.

“I hope that this will be seen in Russia as a very, very strong signal from the U.S. Congress that we are supporting moves towards democracy” in the former Soviet Union, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said after the 87-11 vote.

The $13-billion bill also includes $3 billion in aid to Israel, $2.1 billion for Egypt and $25 million for the Palestinians to begin developing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The defense bill passed by the House included $1 billion less than the Administration had sought for defense programs in the coming year. It awaits action by the Senate, where the Appropriations Committee is expected to take it up next week.

Before passing the bill, the House also cut Clinton’s $3.8-billion request for anti-missile defense research to $2.5 billion and removed a provision earmarking $1 billion for a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

However, the lawmakers preserved other appropriations, rejecting attempts to kill future funding for the D-5 long-range nuclear missiles carried by Trident II submarines.