Clinton Caves on Foreign Aid Emergency Bill

After an uproar in Congress over President Clinton's "emergency foreign aid" spending measure request, Clinton appears to be on the verge of uncharacteristically caving into Congressional Republicans.

President Clinton has requested some $2.5 billion in an emergency supplemental spending bill that would provide emergency aid to Israel and the Middle East, countries affected by the Asian financial crisis, and victims of hurricane Mitch. But, after a letter was sent by several powerful members of Congress challenging the President on the validity that this request represents a true "emergency," the Administration likely will pull the request and offer a new one in its place.

The new request will scrap the funding for the International Monetary Fund and several Asian countries. Apparently, after gaining some $18 billion in funds for the IMF last year, the Administration realized it was unwise to so quickly demand Congress caught up more.

Secondly, the request will eliminate the increase in economic aid to Israel and other Middle Eastern countries. Instead, the Administration will wait to request the aid through the normal fiscal year 2000 appropriations process.

Finally, the Administration will still seek aid for Hurricane Mitch victims in Central America (as was desired by the Republicans). Moreover, the Administration will seek slightly more aid for Jordan.

Another victory for the Republicans comes in the form of offsetting funds. The White House had made the request, but had offered no offsetting in spending to make up for the "emergency." This tactical move was to allow the Republicans to take the political heat for coming up with the funds, or busting the balanced budget spending targets.

After realizing that Congress would not budge on the offsetting spending requirement, the White House decided to come up with its own recommendations. This time, the White House wants to take the money from the defense budget and intelligence spending. This is not likely to fly in Congress, thus jeopardizing the entire spending bill.

In the end, there likely will be some form of an emergency-spending bill. It probably will have offsetting spending, but it won't come from the intelligence budget. It may come from military assistance, under the larger foreign aid budget.

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