Foreign Aid: A Bikini Is Better Than Nothing

Considering the way Congress mauled John F. Kennedy’s last foreign aid bill—appropriating only $3 billion out of an Administration request for $4.5 billion —Lyndon Johnson decided to try a different approach. He sent up a “preshrunk” program of $3.4 billion, the lowest asking price in foreign aid’s history. His aides compared it to a bikini —skimpy, but just enough to cover the vital areas.

Last week Johnson’s strategy paid off. By a vote of 230 to 175, the House approved a bill authorizing the expenditure of virtually every penny he asked for, plus an additional request of $125 million in emergency aid to South Viet Nam. Not since 1947, when Harry Truman launched the foreign aid program by seeking funds to help Greece and Turkey fight Communism, had a President’s full request been authorized by the House.

Barebones Request. Johnson was jubilant, congratulated the House for a “wise and prudent action.” Said he: “This is no time to be cutting a carefully drawn measure.” Even so, it looked at first as if Congress might cut it to ribbons. Veteran Ax Wielder Otto Pass man, the Louisiana Democrat who heads the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, said that the President “would be very lucky to get $2.5 billion.” Congress seemed so rebellious that some officials feared the aid package might eventually be trimmed to $2 billion.

Three things helped turn the tide. One was Johnson’s success in convincing Congress that he had really eliminated all the fat. Another was the death in April of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Clarence Cannon, who had always encouraged Passman to cut.

Cannon’s successor was Texas Demo crat George Mahon, who has voted against aid only once in his 30-year congressional career. The third was the performance of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in preliminary hearings before Passman’s subcommittee.

McNamara faced Passman in March, but the full text of his testimony was not made public until last week. He was in a determined mood. Last year he requested $1.4 billion in military aid, got only $1 billion. This year he started out with a barebones $1 billion request and was bent on getting every penny. Whenever Passman slipped a questionable fact into his long, loaded questions, McNamara cut in, requested permission to “clarify” the record. In a typical exchange involving the adequacy of military assistance to Greece and Turkey, McNamara snapped, “There is absolutely no question but what the Greek and Turkish forces are deficient in equipment, and no amount of verbal distortion will change that fact.” Protested Passman, “I am not using any verbal distortion.” McNamara shot back:

“You look at the record.”

The Real Test. On the floor of the House last week, the authorizing bill sailed through with unprecedented ease. “I would not call this a debate,” said New Jersey Republican Peter Frelinghuysen, as one Representative after another rose to sing the bill’s praises. “It’s just a discussion.”

Nonetheless, the battle is not quite over. “The real test for the foreign aid program will be the amount to be appropriated for it,” said Ohio Republican Clarence Brown. Passman, whose subcommittee has a large voice in determining that amount, is expected to seek a minimum cut of $250 million. In the Senate, Oregon Democrat Wayne Morse threatens to seek a 25% cut, and Alaska Democrat Ernest Gruening is known to be annoyed with the whole program because it offers foreign nations lower interest rates on U.S. loans than his constituents are getting for earthquake recovery funds. Ultimately, the Administration figures that its request will be trimmed by a maximum of $200 million. That makes a smaller bikini than Lyndon was hoping for, but at least it is not one of those newfangled models —the kind without any top.