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Ackerman Slams Amendment to Cut Aid to India

A P Kamath in Washington

A bid to place India in the company of Libya, Lebanon, Laos, Vietnam, Syria, Cuba and North Korea and withhold American assistance because New Delhi voted with Washington than 25 per cent of the time at the United Nations is being slammed by leading Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Representative William F Goodling (R-Pa) offered the amendment to the State Department Authorisation Bill, which is now being considered by the full House.

Leading the fight, Congressman Gary L Ackerman (D-NY) announced yesterday his firm opposition to the proposal, calling it an anti-India measure.

He said it was not only ill-advised but also against the interests of the United States.

Ackerman, who is a leading member of the House International Relations Committee, said: "The only effect of this amendment will be to strain our relations with India and to cast India as an opponent of the US when the opposite is true."

Ackerman, co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, asserted: "In fact, as drafted, the amendment will have the perverse effect of cutting military assistance to India while allowing such assistance to Pakistan, whose fighters have recently invaded India's side of the Line of Control in Kashmir, almost provoking a war between the world's newest nuclear powers."

His views were echoed by James C Greenwood (R-Pa), his colleague in the India and Indian-American caucus.

The amendment allows the secretary of state to exempt a country if there is a change in government, but only until the following year's report on UN voting is produced.

The secretary may also waive this provision if she determines and reports to Congress that despite a country's voting pattern, it is in the US national interest to provide assistance.

US assistance is defined as economic support funds, international military education and training, and foreign military financing.

India, Libya, Lebanon, Laos, Vietnam, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea will be affected if this amendment becomes law. All these nations voted last year in the UN. But only India and Lebanon receive the types of assistance that will be cut off (India: $ 130,000 IMET; Lebanon: $ 12,550,000 ESF and IMET).

Dominica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Congo, Iraq, Liberia, Palau, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia, and Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo) are also affected, but did not vote in the UN last year either because they were absent or their dues were in arrears. It's unclear whether the amendment applies to countries that were prevented from voting.

In a 'Dear Colleague' letter sent to all 435 law-makers in the House and the four delegates (who do not have full voting rights), Ackerman and Greenwood said:

"We do not believe that a nation's voting record on recorded votes in the UN is a fair way to assess whether a country shares our values or our positions in the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, 78% of resolutions were adopted by consensus and when those votes are taken into consideration, India supports the US position 84.2% of the time; on votes designated as "important" by the State Department, India's voting coincidence with the US, including consensus, is 75%. Unlike Libya, Laos, Vietnam, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea, countries similarly affected by the amendment, and that have consistently demonstrated their hostility toward US interests, India has sought to expand relations with the US on a broad range of economic, security, and cultural issues.

"India clearly does not belong in the company of these other nations targeted by this ill-advised proposal."

The Ackerman-Greenwood letter added: "India is a thriving sister democracy, which has recently celebrated its 50th year of independence. There's much in common that we share with the world's most populous democracy. There are many issues that bind our relations with India, including the important contributions made by the well-educated and productive Indian-American community. US assistance to India, and elsewhere, serves our national interests and is provided because it promotes our policy ends, not because it is a reward."

Both law-makers urged their colleagues in the House to oppose the Goodling Amendment.

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