GOP Reaction to Aid Request Is Muted

Congressional Republicans gave a guarded assessment of President Clinton’s proposed 44% increase in U.S. aid to the former Soviet Union. In his proposed fiscal 1998 budget, sent to Congress earlier this month, the president is seeking $900 million in aid for Russia and 11 former Soviet republics, up from $625 million this year. “Our committee can and intends to work with you,” House International Relations Committee Chairman Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.) told J. Brian Atwood, administrator of the Agency for International Development, at a hearing on the aid plan. But some Republican staff members said they expect harsh words about the proposed aid to Russia and the other former Soviet republics when Senate hearings on the request for foreign aid begin today.