World

Clinton Nixes Foreign Aid Bill

October 19, 1999 / 5:46 AM EDT / AP

President Clinton has vetoed a $12.6 billion foreign aid bill as inadequate and called on Republican congressional leaders to join the administration in seeking a solution to the budget impasse.

The foreign aid bill passed over loud opposition from Democrats and the White House, who claim it shortchanges important American foreign policy interests.

The bill would prevent the U.S. from funding foreign policy commitments that Washington has already made.

As passed by Congress, the aid bill provides $2 billion less than Mr. Clinton sought and none of the $500 million down payment he had sought to help Israel and the Palestinians carry out the peace accord negotiated last year at Wye River, Md.

In all, Mr. Clinton has pledged $1.8 billion in U.S. support for the Mideast peace effort.

The bill also provides significantly less money than Mr. Clinton requested for international debt relief, the Peace Corps and for efforts to reduce the nuclear threat from North Korea and other countries.

Â"It doesn't meet the president's priorities,Â" Lockhart said. Â"Wye River is certainly an important element to that, and it is an important part of continuing to exercise U.S. leadership around the world. We can't expect nations in troubled parts of the world, like the Middle East, to move forward with their peace process when we won't meet the commitments we've made.Â"

Mr. Clinton's foreign aid veto, the 28th of his presidency, will likely stand. The bill only narrowly cleared the House with a vote of 214-211, and the Senate with a vote of 51-49. A two-thirds vote in both houses is needed to override a presidential veto.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, in a statement prepared in anticipation of Clinton's veto, said that the extra money Clinton wants can only be obtained by raiding the Social Security trust fund. He called that Â"wrong and irresponsible.Â"

Â"Congress will not use Social Security as a pot of gold to fund foreign aid,Â" Hastert said.

Rep. Sonny Callahan, chairman of the House Foreign Operations subcommittee, said Republicans Congress have sent a consistent message that Â"we will not raid Social Security, nor will we agree to raise taxes, to pay for increased foreign aid spending.Â"

When the possibility of a veto was first voiced earlier in the month, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., chairman of the Senate Appropriations panel on foreign operations, said it could shut off $735 million in aid to former Soviet Republics, $285 million in narcotics-fighting assistance and $180 million to combat AIDS.

However, foreign aid likely would continue to flow at current levels as part of stopgap spending legislation that covers agencies and departments for which there has been no appropriation.

The administration also had complained that the legislation cuts many economic assistance programs, including those for poor countries in Africa.

And it eliminated a $24 million State Department program to help find work for former Soviet nuclear weapons scientists in an attempt to make sure they do not sell their services to rogue states attempting to develop nuclear weapons.