WASHINGTON, July 15 The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted today in favor of proposals to withhold military and economic assistance from Pakistan and Greece.
The proposal regarding Pakistan would cut off United States funds until East Pakistani refugees have been returned to their homes and “reasonable stability” hat been achieved in the country, where the army has moved to crush an East Pakistani movement for independence.
The action on Greece was reversal of a vote yesterday by which the committee defeated, 14 to 12, another proposal to bar arms aid to Greece. That vote was on an amendment offered by Representative Wayne L. Hays, Democrat of Ohio, to the Administration's $3.3‐billion foreign aid authorization bill.
Vote Approved, 17 to 12
Today's vote was on an amendment jointly offered by Mr. Hays and Representative Paul Findley, Republican of Illinois. It was approved 17 to 12.
The vote on Pakistan was 17 to 6 in favor of an amendment by Representative Cornelius E. Gallagher, Democrat of New Jersey.
The two votes today were the first concrete moves in Congress to use foreign aid policies as a means to bring about an improvement in the internal situations of Greece and Pakistan.
Congressional sources said today that the chances were excellent that the entire House would follow the committee's recommendations.
In the Senate, the feeling against military aid to the two countries has been even stronger than in the House.
The Administration has asked Congress to authorize 13.3‐ million in economic aid, $5.5‐ million in military aid and $8‐million in technical assistance for Pakistan for the fiscal year that began July 1.
The request for Greece is $117.9‐million in military aid for the new fiscal year, com pared with $80.3‐million for last year. No economic aid was given to Greece last year and none was requested for this year.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy said in a statement today that the Administration had confronted Congress for too long with “misleading statements” about its policy of supplying arms to Pakistan. He added that he had requested the General Accounting Office to investigate the volume and con tent of United States military aid to Pakistan.
“It saddens me that our great nation continues to be more efficient in moving military hardware than in arranging humanitarian relief in East Pakistan,” Mr. Kennedy said.
As defined by State Department officials, the Administration position on Pakistan is that economic assistance is being held in abeyance pending a clarification of the situation in East Pakistan and that military assistance in sales of “non lethal” items was stopped on March 25 when the Pakistani Army moved in the East. Pakistan is allowed, however, to receive military items for which export licenses were issued before March 25.
Charles W. Bray 3d, the State Department's spokesman, said today that the amounts contained in the Administration's bill should be authorized and appropriated by Congress “against the possibility” that the situation in East Pakistan would improve during the fiscal year, thus permitting resumption of aid.
Administration officials to day made a distinction between suspension of economic assistance pending a return to normalcy in East Pakistan and a deliberate policy of using aid as a means to impose on the Government of President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan “particular” solution to the conflict in East Pakistan. They added that the Administration has consistently been using its influence to persuade the Pakistani Government that political accommodation in the East was the only way out of the present situation. But the Administration is not trying to dictate what form this accommodation should take, it was said.
Both amendments passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee today contain Presidential waiver clauses.
The amendment on Pakistan stipulates that assistance to that country may be resumed if the President reports to Congress that the Pakistani Government has restored “reasonable” stability and is permitting the East Pakistani refugees in India to return and claim their lands and properties.
The amendment barring military and economic assistance to Greece stipulates that this ban may be waived only if the President finds that overriding requirements of United States security justify such a waiver and if he reports such a finding to the Congress in writing.
Representative Benjamin S. Rosenthal, Democrat of Queens, whose Foreign Affairs subcommittee has been holding hearings on Administration policies in Greece since Monday, sent letters today to Secretary of State William P. Rogers and Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird complaining of “conflicting testimony” given by wit nesses on the origins and effects of American military aid policies in Greece.