INTERIM AID BILL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26634, 3 December 1947, Page 5

INTERIM AID BILL

PASSED BY SENATE RELIEF FOR EUROPEAN COUNTRIES Rec. 11 p.m. WASHINGTON, Dec. 1. The Senate this afternoon over' whelmingly passed the 697,000.008 dollar Interim Aid Bill for France, • Italy and Austria. Its passage cleared the way for action in the House, where a close fight is expected over the Republican move to slash Europe’s share of the aid and provide 60,000,000 dollars for China. Both the Senate and House Bills are merely authorisations sanctioning the programme and limiting expenditure. Actual fund. 1 must be provided by separate appropriation measures, and economy advocates in both Chambers are expected to wage their major battle when the appropriations come up for approval. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations * Committee, Senator A. H. Vander.burg, urged the passage of the Bill by to-night, and the Senate acted with the minimum of' oratory. It approved an amendment by the Republican Whip, Senator Kenneth Wherry, prohibiting the President from ordering domestic price control or allocation measures in administering relief, but rejected a proposal by Senator Glenn Taylor (Democrat. Idaho) to have all funds administered by the United States, and to make them available to all hungry peoples, including Russians, instead of only France, Italy and Austria. Other amendments approved were:— First, recipient countries must allow full press and radio reporting on the distribution of aid. Secondly, the recipients must use the relief supplies efficiently, make them available at reasonable prices, and work to make their own economies self-supporting. Thirdly, the recipients must agree not to re-export relief supplies and must refrain from exporting similar goods which they produce. Fourthly, up to 25 per cent, of the purchases for shipment under the programme may be made abroad, to lighten the impact on American economy. Fifthly, relief shipments to any country may be cancelled whenever the President determines that it is not adhering to its relief agreement or that “changed conditions” within the country make further help undesirable