Lawmakers Weighing In on Tsunami Aid

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Frist said yesterday he plans to visit India to try to help victims of tsunamis that have left millions of people at risk of disease.“I feel like I’ve been hit in the stomach,” Dr. Frist, a Republican of Tennessee, said in an e-mail to friends and supporters. “It is like 9/11 but so different. There is no one to blame.”Dr. Frist is a physician who has frequently visited blighted areas worldwide, sometimes performing surgeries.Details of his trip are still being worked out, said his spokesman, Bob Stevenson. He said it was not clear if he would travel outside India and if other senators would accompany him. Dr. Frist would leave next week, Mr. Stevenson said.Two House members had previously planned to visit the region. House International Relations Asia subcommittee Chairman Jim Leach, a Republican of Iowa, and the panel’s top Democrat, American Samoa delegate Rep. Eni H. Faleomavaega, plan separate trips next week, then expect to meet up in Southeast Asia.“We will do all we can to assist the victims and the people in this area,” Mr. Faleomavaega said.Other lawmakers are likely to join Mr. Leach’s trip. International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, a Republican of Illinois, said their findings will be important in shaping any aid legislation.Mr. Hyde said he plans to introduce legislation early next year to help victims of the tsunamis.“The challenges of coping with suffering on this magnitude are almost unfathomable, and we will act,” he said.Secretary of State Powell, who travels to Asia on Sunday, said yesterday he will discuss humanitarian relief and reconstruction with lawmakers in coming days. He said the Bush administration hasn’t determined whether it will request more money, but “Congress will have a role to play.”Lawmakers and congressional aides say the Bush administration should have enough funds available for immediate relief operations without having to request more right away.But additional money may be needed at some point to replenish emergency funds depleted by the disaster and to help pay for longer-term relief and reconstruction.Some lawmakers say a request could be part of a package expected early in 2005 for funding for the Iraq war, for which the administration is likely to ask for $75 billion to $100 billion.A senior Democrat, Senator Leahy of Vermont, said the administration should seek new funds as part of the Iraq package instead of stripping money from existing foreign aid programs.Another option, Mr. Leahy said, would be using billions of unspent dollars intended for Iraq reconstruction. The administration has spent little of the $18.4 billion in reconstruction funds approved by Congress last year, citing security problems and bureaucratic delays.“That would be the quickest and easiest way because you wouldn’t have to hurt the most devastated to help the most devastated,” said Mr. Leahy, top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, which oversees foreign aid.But Rep. Jim Kolbe, a Republican of Arizona, who chairs the House Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, cautioned against shifting money from Iraq reconstruction. He said those funds were supposed to be spent over three years.“It’s not as though they haven’t spent it because it’s not needed,” he said.Mr. Kolbe said it is possible – but not certain – that the administration could request relief funds as part of next year’s Iraq spending bill.American officials are providing an initial $35 million aid package and have pledged to provide more help.Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, a Republican of Indiana, said yesterday he will introduce a resolution to express sympathy for the victims and urge a generous response. In his e-mail, Dr. Frist pledged “the full support of the Senate” to help disaster victims.“The magnitude of this human tragedy may well define us in the years to come,” he wrote.

Lawmakers Weighing In on Tsunami Aid

Lawmakers Weighing In on Tsunami Aid

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