Evening star., 1952-05-04
Senate Democrats
To Fight New Cut in
H.9 Foreign Aid Bill
By J. A. OLeon

I'm going to stand by the bill a
it is"
He will have the support o
Senator George, Democrat o
Georgia, who made the motion TO
the 81 billion committee reduc
ton. Senator George said he viii
stick by that figure on this bill
which is only the authorization.
Later the appropriation com
mittees of both houses will hav
the final say as to how much O
the authorized total should b.
made available. Senator Georg,
said he does not know what tn,
Appropriations Committee may do
$40 Billion For 1853
While the Senate is debatinl
the bill this week, the House For.
eign Affairs Committee will b,
in closed session deciding how bis
a program it will approve. Chair.
man Richards, Democrat of Sout.
Carolina, hopes to report the bill
to the House by the end of the
week.
The Senate Foreign Relations
Committee made public yesterday
its report on the bill, which shows
that, while only 500 billion of
new money is being authorized,
the United States will spend more
than $40 billion on foreign aid in
1858, including a backlog of past
appropriations.
The committee report shows
that only a small part of past
appropriations for foreign mill
tary aid has been translated into
arms delivered overseas, but fore
casts rapid increase in delivery
of weapons to Europe in the near
future.
Large Unspent Balance.
The report points out that on
January 81, 1852. the value of
shipments to Europe was only a
little more than $1.2 billion, al
though the total available fol
military aid at that time was
about $9.4 billion.
Thus, for every SO available for
the European military programs
only about 81 worth of equipment
has been shipped" the report said
The committee pointed out that
a large part of this unspent bal
ance is due to normal time lag
in manufacture. and to the fact
that the $7.3 billion Foreign Aid
bill passed last year did not be-
come law until October 81.
''Nonetheless, it is agreed that
shipments of military assistance
equipment have been slower than
desirable" the committee added
Explains Delay in Delivery.
When Defense Secretary Lovett
was asked by the committee why
delivery has been so slow, he ex-
planned that when the defense
build-up started there were these
factors:
A shortage of machine tools, in
adequate facilities in being, un-
realistic initial scheduling, short
ages in critical materials, and
complicated designing of present.
day equipment.
The committee said Secretary
Lovett concluded however, that
the picture is noticeably better
today and that shipments should
increase rapidly in the months
ahead"
The report also shows that since
World War II-from July 1945
through December 1851, the
United States has given military
and economic aid to cooperating
nations in all parts Of the world
totaling 1856 billion.
Magnitude to Continue.
This is only the amount spent,
and does not include unexpended
military-aid appropriations au-
thorized since 1850. For example
since foreign military aid began
in 1850. appropriations for that
purpose have totaled $1l.8 billion
OF which only $2.1 billion had been
spent up to last December. This
leaves $9.7 billion still to be spent
out OF past appropriations.
The committee emphasized that
while there is no commitment be-
yond the coming fiscal year, il
understands that current plans
for the mutual defense Of Western
Europe assume the United States
will continue its aid program fol
the next two years at about the
present magnitude.
The committee also presented
data to show what the other
NATO countries are doing fol
mutual defense.
Defense Spending Increased.
Since the outbreak of the Ko-
rean war the NATO allies have
increased their defense spending
from $4.5 billion to SO billion, and
for 1858 are expected to budget
$14.5 billion. The committee
points out that this outlay by
Western Europe is not wholly
comparable to the national de-
tense budget of the United States
(about $50 billion) because Euro
pean costs for the pay, feeding
clothing and housing of troops
are substantially less than in this
country
The report also pointed out that
this country will spend 18 per cent
of its gross national product or
defense, as against 8 per cent fol
NATO Europe. But it empha-
sizes that, in addition to the fact
that Europe's contribution ir
terms Of dollars is distorted, the
average per capita gross nationa
product in Europe is only abou
a third of the United States pei
capita.
In its general Endorsement O
the foreign aid program, tn
committee said it has long be-
lieved that the United State