Foreign-Aid Progress

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week furnished convincing proof that President Eisenhower's appeals and John Foster Dulles' sturdy testimony on foreign aid have taken root. By a 12-3 vote (Democrats Wayne Morse and Russell Long, Republican William Langer) the committee approved an authorization bill that sliced off only $227 million of the $3.8 billion Ike had requested for military and economic aid. But more than that, the influential Foreign Relations Committee chalked up a far-reaching first. For the first time in the ten years of foreign aid, it approved--in principle--the President's program for an economic development fund of indefinite duration (TIME, June 3) instead of hewing to the traditional year-to-year limitation.

The victory was the first and easiest of the four Senate hurdles that the Administration's program faces. Next week the committee's recommendation will go to the Senate floor, where such diehard foreign-aid enemies as Indiana's Jenner and Nevada's Malone lie in wait. Moreover, the Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to count out the actual money, and after that an economy-minded Senate will have to vote the funds.

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