House Votes Down Contra Aid Package

WASHINGTON--A bitterly divided House voted Wednesday to cut off U.S. military support for Nicaragua's contra rebels, rejecting President Reagan's aid request in the hope of fortifying the Central American peace process.

The 219-211 vote, culminating six years of overt and covert military support for the rebels fighting the leftist Sandinista government, killed Reagan's request for $36.2 million in new aid to keep the contras alive as a fighting force through June.

It was a serious defeat for the president, who had lobbied hard on the issue for two weeks and has put the contras among the top foreign policy priorities for his final year in office. Only a day earlier, Reagan had offered one final compromise giving Congress more say in the military aid. He argued that failure to extend aid would strengthen communist influence in the hemisphere.

The White House issued a statement saying it was disappointed the House "did not vote to keep pressure on the Sandinistas during the peace process."

"We thank our many supporters in Congress who worked so hard on behalf of this issue. We will continue consultations with these congressional supporters and others concerning the future of the resistance and the peace process," said Presidential Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater.

A contra spokeswoman in Miami termed the vote "a serious setback in our struggle for freedom and democracy."

"The vote does not mean we will stop," said Marta Sacasa, spokeswoman for the Nicaraguan Resistance, the umbrella group known as the contras. She said contra leaders would "reassess possible strategies" but added, "there's no way a U.S. vote is going to change our determination or will. We will just have to do without."

Nicaragua's ambassador told Managua's Radio Sandino that the vote was "nothing more than recognition of the sentiments of the majority of the North American people."

"We hope that based on this vote we can move ahead with the Central American peace plan, end the war and fulfill in all good faith what the peace plan includes," said Ambassador Carlos Tunnermann.

In the voting, 12 Republicans sided with 207 Democrats to defeat the president's aid request. Forty-seven Democrats joined 164 Republicans in voting for the president's package.

"Today's vote is the end of a chapter," said House Majority Whip Tony Coelho (D.-Calif.). "The contra policy is the past. Now we can deploy America's greatest strengths, from aid and trade to diplomacy, to stoke the flames of liberty and secure the future for Central America."

But Republicans warned that the action would relieve part of the pressure on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega which they contend has forced him into recent concessions. The aid cut-off would allow Managua to slip backwards into renewed repression, the president's congressional supporters charged.

"The issue of Nicaragua and Central America will not go away," said House Republican Leader Robert Michel of Illinois.

"If you vote this package down, you'd better be prepared to bear the consequences," Michel said. "And who among you is smart enough to predict the path on which Daniel Ortega will take you?"

Current aid to the rebels expires February 29, and Democrats pledged to hold another vote before the month is out on an alternative package of purelyhumanitarian aid to the rebels. They would thenfollow that up with a new emphasis on economicdevelopment aid for countries in the region thatabide by terms of a five-nation peace accord.

"We recognize that we cannot morally walk awayand leave them abandoned in the jungle," said Rep.David Obey (D -Wis.)

While the House action killed the proposal,there was still a chance that the Senate couldhold a symbolic debate and vote on the measure onThursday.

The most controversial part of the defeatedpackage was $3.6 million earmarked for weapons andammunition, which Reagan had said he wouldwithhold until March 31 to see how cease-firetalks go between the rebels and the Managuagovernment.

The presidents of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, ElSalvador, Honduras and Guatemala launched a peaceeffort when they signed an accord last August 7.Those talks are scheduled to resume February 10.

Closing out the debate with the House galleriesjammed with spectators, House Speaker Jim Wright(D-Tex.), said the United States should letCentral America run its own affairs, instead ofmaintaining interventionist policies.

"Let's join with them, and not against them, inseeking an avenue to peace and let us show by ourvote that we are prepared to re-embrace the GoodNeighbor policy, and that we're prepared to givepeace a chance," Wright said.

After the vote, Wright said it should be viewedas "as an encouragement to carry out the [peace]accords and make the peace process a reality." Heattributed the victory to strong congressionalsupport for the peace effort and to "enormouschanges...in the attitude of the Sandinistagovernment."

"Obviously, if the government of Nicaragua wereto misbehave in extreme ways, to renege outrighton its commitments or to invade its neighbors,that would radically change the situation," Wrightsaid. "We don't anticipate that."

The bulk of the aid package was intended to buy"non-lethal" supplies to keep the rebels alive asa military force inside Nicaragua. That includedfood and uniforms as well as communications gearand leased aircraft to deliver the material.

There have been published reports that theAdministration had been weighing a plan to solicitfunds from foreign governments for the contras inthe event that Congress defeated Reagan's request.But Reagan's National Security Adviser Lt. Gen.Colin Powell said last Sunday, "We are not lookingfor other sources of funding."

The United States has funneled more than $200million to the rebels since their guerrilla warbegan in 1981. Stockpiled weapons and othersupplies continue to be airdropped to the contrasby the CIA, operating from Honduran bases.

Opponents of the aid argue that U.S.sponsorship of the rebels has given theSandinistas an excuse to suppress politicaldissent and avoid fulfilling the democraticpromises made in their 1979 constitution.

Throughout the day-long debate, both sidescontended their intent was to secure peace in theturbulent region.

Rep. David Bonior (D -Mich.), leader of ananti-contra group of lawmakers, said that duringsix years of debate over the Administration'spolicy, "The case against contra aid has beenoverwhelming." He included allegations of humanrights abuses by the rebels and theAdministration's covert aid policy uncovered bythe summer's Iran-Contra hearings. But he said theissue has become even more crucial because of thepeace process.

At one point during the debate, about half adozen contra aid protesters interrupted the floorproceedings briefly by standing up and shouting,"No Contra aid!" and "End the war now!" Thedemonstrators were hustled out of the chamber,handcuffed and carted off by police.

The vote was Reagan's first challenge onCapitol Hill during the final year of hispresidency. Faced with an uphill fight, he hadlobbied the issue hard over the past two weeks,meeting individually with legislators and makingnumerous public speeches that put his prestige andinfluence on the line.

In a letter detailing the compromise offer inhis Tuesday night speech, the president pledged hewould not release the lethal aid if both the Houseand Senate adopted, within a 10-day period afterhe signaled his intention to release the aid, aresolution stating that Nicaragua complied withthe peace process.

That would have given Nicaragua two months tolive up to the broad promises of ceasefire,amnesty and democratization made in a January 16agreement among the five Central Americanpresidents