74. Editorial Note
On November 4, 1971, at 12:05 p.m., Special Assistant to the President Eugene S. Cowen sent a memorandum to Clark MacGregor and Henry Kissinger informing them that at about noon that day Senator Fulbright would introduce three foreign assistance bills in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: bilateral economic aid, $640 million; humanitarian and multilateral aid, $445.9 million; and military and related aid, $1 billion. Cowen added that the three bills would total $2.1 billion, $850 million less than the bill that was defeated in the Senate on October 29 and far below the administration’s request for $3.5 billion. Cowen noted that appropriations in FY 1970 had been $1.9 billion. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Subject Files, Box 323, Foreign Aid, Volume I 7/70-1971)
At 1:30 p.m. on November 4 Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs David Abshire sent a memorandum to Alexander Haig informing him that he and Under Secretary Irwin had just met with Senators Cooper, Javits, and Case who together would be offering a one-bill Javits substitute for the Fulbright three-bill approach and that they thought they had the votes. (Ibid.)
On November 4 Cowen sent another memorandum to Henry Kissinger and MacGregor informing them that the Foreign Relations Committee was likely to report a foreign aid bill that day. He added that Senator Scott had told him that he thought Javits and Cooper had the votes to report out the Javits bill. Cowen provided details on the Javits bill, by categories of assistance, and noted that the total was $2,914.8 million, the same amount in the bill defeated by the Senate on October 29. (Ibid.)
[Page 175]In his November 4 Evening Report to the President, Secretary of State Rogers reported that by a unanimous vote the Foreign Relations Committee had voted out two foreign assistance bills, the first covering bilateral economic assistance ($695 million) and humanitarian and multilateral assistance ($449 million), and the second providing $1,185 million in military and related assistance. Rogers noted that the total, $2,329 million, was about $600 million less than in the bill the Senate rejected on October 29 and $900 million less than the Committee’s original recommendation. He pointed out that the bill approved by the House had provided $3,443 million. He reported that the Cooper-Church Amendment was out but that the Mansfield and Symington Amendments remained. (Ibid., White House Central Files, President’s Daily Briefings, Box 37, November 1-16, 1971)