Evening star., 1953-06-18
House Opens Debate
On S4.9 Billion for
Foreign Aid Today
ByJ. A. o'Leory

House leaders indicate they will
not try to knock it out.
They will rely on the Senate to
eliminate the limitation when the
final draft Of the bill is written
in conference.
Will Resist Cuts.
Representative Vorys, Repub-
1ican, of Ohio, who will have
charge of the bill on the floor,
said he will resist any efforts to
cut it further. He pointed out
that the President and the COM
mittee have reduced it "a per
cent below the original Truman
estimate of $7.6 billion.
Mr.. Vorys said he also will
oppose a motion the opposition
is expected to offer to put off
until January any new foreign
aid authorization. They would
empower the Mutual Security
Agency to continue to function
until then on its unexpended
balances from past appropria-
tions. The committee report
shows that on July l the agency
will have $9.4 billion in unSpent
balances. The opponents con-
tend that if Congress waited un-
til January to act on new au-
thorizations, the pipeline of
foreign aid would not be inter-
rupted, since most Of the $6.8
billion to be paid out in the next
IL months will be out Of the un-
expended balances.
Mr.. ,Vorys said that in COM
mittee he opposed tying string
to 81 billion of the European
military aid, not because he
objected to it in principle, but
because the administration felt
it would do more harm than
good.
Will Back Decision.
Since the comm mittee has
adopted the amendment, Spon-
sored by Representative Rich
ards, Democrat, of South Caro-
lima, Mr.. Vorys said he will go
along with the committee deci-
sion in the House. He agreed
that if the EDO treaty dies in
the parliaments of five European
nations. this country will have
to revamp its mutual defense
plans later on.
Up to now, only the Republic
of Western Germany has rati-
fed the EDO treaty, under
which German manpower would
become available to the NATO
defense forces by being inte-
grated with the armies of five
other nations.
Mr.. Richards said yesterday
that France holds the key to
whether the fntegrated army will
be created. He said he does not
blame Italy, Belgium. Luxem-
burg and The Netherlands for
not ratifying until they know
whether France is going to do so.
The Richards amendment
would have no effect On the
money to be spent in the next
II months out of unexpended
balances, but it would cut down
aid from this country thereafter
If the treaty is not ratified.
Five Hours Debate.
The Rules Committee yester-
day allowed five hours of general
debate on the bill, which will
take all of today's session.
Voting on amendments will
start tomorrow, and Speaker
Martin believes the bill can be
passed and sent to the Senate
by tomorrow night. The House
may be held in session Saturday
if it does not get through tomor-
row.
On the Senate side the For
eign Relations Committee has
reported more liberal bill, au-
thorizing $5.3 billion. without the
Richards restriction. The Sen
ate bill is now being reviewed by
its Armed Services Committee
and may be ready for debate next
week.
File Minority Report.
Four Republican members of
the House Foreign Affairs Com
mittee late yesterday filed a mi
nority report, criticizing the ac-
complishments of the foreign aid
program thus far. and suggesting
that the pending bill includes
about 81 billion of projects that
could be eliminated. postponed
or reduced without impairing the
effectiveness of the bill.
In this category they included
military aid for Spain, a project
for manufacturing ammunition
in France, and technical assist
ance for various parts of the
world. The minority also criti-
ciZed plans they said are in the
program to "rearm the nation
of Japan behind the backs of the
people"
The minority declared Russia
is capable of sweeping over
Europe with the same ease now
that it could last year or the
year before" They said there has
been no prograss toward the goal
of security.
The minority report was
signed by four Republicans:
Representatives Smith of Wis
consin, Adair of Indiana, Bent
ley of Michigan and Church of
Illinois