House Defeats Nicaraguan Aid Package

WASHINGTON--The House yesterday killed a $30 million package of purely "humanitarian" aid for Nicaragua's Contras that had been pushed by Democrats as a way to ease pressure for future military aid for the rebels.

The final vote of 216-208 against the plan came minutes after the lawmakers had voted 215-210 to accept a Democratic version of the aid package that also included sharp restrictions on how the rebels could use the money and a new fund to aid children who are victims of the Nicaraguan civil war.

Defeat of the aid package meant the rebels, whose last U.S. aid ran out on Tuesday, would be left without new supplies until Congress could make another run at passing an aid bill.

Liberal Democrats, who have steadfastly opposed aid to the rebels in the past, teamed with Republicans, for whom the package was too weak, to defeat it.

As the House debated the Democratic plan, Rep. Charles Stenholm, (D-Tex.) charged that it would have placed control of a $14 million fund to aid children who are victims of the civil war in the hands of the leftist Nicaraguan government, prompting an angry response from House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.).

Anyone who makes such a claim "is just lying or he doesn't understand it," Wright said.

Earlier, the speaker had called the dispute over the aid package "a battle for peace in Nicaragua, and for a constructive role for the United States in Central America as opposed to a destructive role."

But the president, in a letter to pro-Contra forces sent while he was attending a meeting of Western allies in Brussels, Belgium, said Wright's plan "does not meet the essential criteria" of keeping the Contras viable and maintaining military pressure on the leftist Sandinista government.

He asked for support for a Republican aid proposal that backers said provided more flexibility for the Contras, both in the kinds of supplies that could be bought and in the way they would be delivered to troops in the field.

"Today could represent a watershed in our policies toward Central America," Reagan wrote. "One avenue will lead to rapid debilitation of the resistance and further encouragement of Sandinista intransigence. The other could keep alive prospects for democracy and meaningful talks toward peace."

The House on Feb. 3 defeated, 219-211, a $36.2 million Reagan proposal that included money for weapons and other military equipment.

In debate yesterday, both sides argued that their version would best enhance a Central American peace process.

"Our opportunity today is to construct a united position on Nicaragua policy for the first time in eight years," said Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), a sponsor of the Democratic package.

"It says to the Contras that the United States is not going to provide them the means to make war. But neither is the United States going to turn away from them," Hamilton said.

But Rep. William Broomfield (R-Mich.) called the proposal "a surrender package. It could turn the freedom fighters into refugees in their own country."

Cease-fire talks between the two warring sides were stalled, and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega proposed for the first time holding high-level direct talks inside Nicaragua, without Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, who has been serving as a mediator.

In seeking to craft a majority, Democrats were faced with challenges from at least two sides. They had to win the votes of party moderates who were reluctant to totally abandon the rebels, believing that they provide useful pressure to keep the Sandinistas bargaining in good faith.

The Democrats also had to woo the votes of the party's liberal wing, most of whom have steadfastly refused to vote for aid to the rebels in any form.

The Democratic package included about $16 million in food, clothing, medicine and shelter for the rebels, intended to last at least through June, and $14 million to set up a fund to help children injured in the seven-year Nicaraguan civil war.

Party leaders had argued that passage of this purely "humanitarian" aid bill would have lessened chances that Reagan could come back to Congress soonwith a request for weapons and ammunition tosustain the Contras.

A Republican alternative plan contained moremoney for the rebels--about $22 million--andplaced fewer restrictions on the way the Contrascould use the aid, allowing purchase of non-lethalmilitary supplies. The GOP package also containeda children's aid fund similar to that proposed byDemocrats.

Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-OK) said the keydifference between the two bills was that theDemocrats' version offered no guarantees for quickconsideration of a future administration requestfor military aid for the rebels.

The GOP package would permit the president toask for such aid any time after April 15, andwould require expedited congressional action