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IT'S ONLY YOUR MONEY
Senators
rush
Senate
considering $100M in aid By NATHAN GUTTMAN Israel's supporters in the Senate are trying to attach a $100 million emergency aid rider to a supplementary foreign aid bill, but the administration objects because the bill will increase the U.S. budget deficit. Meanwhile, Republican senators attempting to land a majority for a bill that would allow more drilling for oil in Alaska against the wishes of environmentalists, have drafted a version of the bill that would allow Israel to be the only country to which oil from that new drilling could be exported. But Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Jewish former candidate for vice president, has condemned the proposal for involving the Middle East within a domestic controversy. The $100 million aid bill being proposed is meant to make up for a $200 million request by Israel that the White House Budget Office cut out of the final version of a supplementary aid bill because of an increase in the government deficit. Now, several senators considered close backers of Israel are trying to make approval of the supplementary bill conditional to the transfer of $100 million to Israel, threatening to obstruct passage of the supplementary aid bill if it does not include funding for Israel's domestic security needs. The administration is not expected to fight with the Congress on the issue. In the other development, Alaska Sen. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, is trying to win support for the controversial plan to allow oil drilling inside the Arctic Circle wilderness in Alaska. Lacking a majority in the Senate for the bill, Murkowski is reckoning that he could win some Democratic votes by linking it to Israel. According to his proposal, the bill would allow the drilling and would include an article banning any export of that oil—except to Israel. Another article in the bill would extend for 10 years the U.S. commitment to provide Israel with oil in case its other sources are cut off. The current commitment is due to expire in 2004. But the Democrats say that adding aid to Israel to the energy bill will not change their position, with Lieberman reprimanding the Republican for trying to involve Middle East politics in the highly controversial domestic issue.
Remember the LIBERTY?
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