Global Policy Forum

By Elizabeth Becker

The Bush administration said Monday that it would pay for its $350 million pledge of tsunami disaster relief from money already in this year's budget, rejecting the idea of asking Congress to approve immediate emergency funds to cover the costs. With foreign aid and relief budgets already stretched thin, some members of Congress have expressed worry that such an approach could drain most of the government's relief accounts and leave little for future disasters or promised development assistance.

The administration also ruled out using any money from the more than $18 billion set aside for the reconstruction of Iraq, even though much of that money cannot be spent because of the continuing war, according to Chad Kolton, spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget. "No, we will not use Iraq reconstruction money," Mr. Kolton said. "We have the resources in hand, and that's where the money is coming from. It's not a matter of ginning up new aid - the federal government actually budgets for disasters."

After weathering several days of criticism last week of its smaller initial offers of help, the administration is bracing for a new dispute over how the government will pay for the $350 million pledge and any future financing for the reconstruction of the nations devastated by the tsunami. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and an early critic of the administration's first pledges - $15 million and $35 million - for the tsunami victims, said he was pleased with the current $350 million pledge. But now, he said, he was worried that it would come at the expense of "famine victims in Africa and victims of genocide around the world." "I worry that the administration is robbing Peter to pay Paul, helping people dying from disease and dehydration in Indonesia and Sri Lanka but taking that money from programs to relieve famine and childhood diseases," Mr. Leahy said.

With Congress not in session most of the month, the administration is consulting with senior Republican lawmakers, trying to cover the costs of this disaster without undermining Mr. Bush's other priorities like cutting the budget deficit while making his tax cuts permanent. The administration plans to rely largely on money in the international disaster and famine assistance program at the United States Agency of International Development, according to Mr. Kolton. That program's budget is $384.9 million for the fiscal year of 2005. The initial $350 million for the tsunami disaster would nearly eliminate funds available for any disaster later in the year.

The Defense Department also has a $115 million emergency fund that can be tapped. Senior officials from the Office of Management and Budget are working with Republican leaders in Congress to decide if and when to ask for more relief money in an emergency supplemental bill and how much should be put back into the budget for relief and development. "That is enough money to cover the president's commitments," Mr. Kolton said. Several members of Congress have said they prefer an emergency supplemental bill to cover the costs of what is possibly the worst natural disaster in a generation.

Representative Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said he expected the administration to include more money for the tsunami victims in its supplemental bill to cover costs in Iraq. "I'm frankly going on the assumption that there will be additional money and that there will be money to replenish the relief and disaster accounts," said Mr. Kolbe, whose subcommittee will be holding hearings on the issue at the end of the month. "If they take money out of accounts for famine relief or AIDS in Africa, I would want assurances that the money is replaced."

Senator Richard G. Lugar, the Indiana Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expects the administration to send a supplemental bill to Congress once relief money runs out, according to Andy Fisher, an aide. Nancy E. Lindborg, president of Mercy Corps, a relief organization, said the government could not afford to "hamstring itself and be unprepared for future disasters." "A disaster of this magnitude has to be paid out of a supplemental bill, not from existing accounts," Ms. Lindborg said. Mr. Leahy proposed again that the administration should use money from the Iraq reconstruction fund. The administration did shift $3.46 billion from the $18.4 billion Iraqi aid package last autumn into security and job-creation programs.

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