WASHINGTON: The U.S. House of Representatives passed without objection the Burton amendment to HR 1561, the American Overseas Interests Act which will cut off $70.4 million in U.S. development aid to any country which does not vote with the United States at the United Nations at least 25% of the time. ‘The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Dan Burton (RIN), follows one sponsored by Rep. William Goodling (RPA). That amendment eliminates $364.000 in U.S. aid to India under the International Military and Education Training (IMET) program due to its voting record. Last year India opposed the United States at the United Nations 84% of the time. This matches Cuba’s voting record and is more anti-American than any other recipient of US. aid.
Passage of this amendment is a major defeat for India. According to the “Embassy Row” column in the Washington Times, the Indian embassy is angry with the India Caucus because it did not force a recorded vote, “We’re getting word from the floor that the embassy is angry,” the Times quotes a source as saying. The India lobby “feared that they would lose are corded vote,” according to the article.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 2, 1995
