A progressive Yahoo?
Kovler, Peter
CLARENCE LONG TAKES ON FOREIGN AID A progressive Yahoo? PETER KOVLER ALTHOUGH the acrimony has not been as apparent as in the last years of the Vietnam war, Congress and the administration...
...Two instances that exemplify Long's approach to hearings occurred early in the year...
...Even though Clarence Long's position on the banks has begun to sound a bit like that of a Yahoo congressman, on other foreign policy questions his proposals could be considered extremely progressive...
...In fact, Long has made hundreds of copies of what he means by this technology and he hands them out eagerly to administrators, fellow congressmen and public interest groups...
...24 November 1978: 757 THERE is a general belief that Clarence Long has "his heart in the right place;' 'Even his so-called opponents, administration officials who have had their programs weakened by Long, never accuse the Chairman of intentional inhumanity...
...The Chairman emphasizes that the seeder, now costing $20 and used in Honduras, is "terribly cost-efficient" and that its use—as with that of thousands of other homegrown inventions—should be encouraged by the international organizations...
...in 1976 he was one of the leaders in the fight to break-up the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy...
...or a show...
...Some of the richest people you can find anywhere are living in poor countries...
...Such tension between Long and the administration had not 24 November 1978: 755 been anticipated...
...To the Treasury, Long is a menace that will not go away...
...There is an awareness that with so many freshmen and sophomore congressmen who have no set views on foreign aid—that these members can be more easily swayed by the viewpoint of the Chairman...
...Long is one of the few congressmen who eschews the junket...
...More, in the early '70s, largely stimulated by his son's injury in Vietnam (Long is the only congreesman to have had a son hurt in the war), he had introduced measures to stop the bombing of Cambodia and to withdraw American support from South Vietnam...
...Even though many believe that Long may have some good ideas, having had to deal with him and observe his character, they abhor being near him...
...Otto Passman (Dem., Louisiana), was upset in his reelection bid in November, '76, it was thought that the successor, Long, would be a friend of the new Democratic administration...
...In January, '77—as Carter was inaugurated and Long took over his new job—it looked very much as if there would be four years of cooperation...
...Since Long assumed the Chairmanship in January, 1977, his most significant work has been to attack AID and the IFIs...
...Again, Long was opposing the administration...
...Long badgered him, at one point saying peremptorily, "Are you finished...
...For 22 years Passman had been an unrelenting foe of foreign aid: his hearings were closed to the public and he treated his witnesses—says Long—"like dogs...
...Although he was eventually defeated, his proposal angered and seriously frightened the international lending community...
...When the subcommittee's former Chairman, Cong...
...Representative on the International Development Association to vote against loans to countries that explode nuclear devices...
...Hence, hostility deepened...
...That is, unlike most other appropriations dialogues between the subcommittee and the Executive— where there is "give and take" and where compromises are reached—Long's hearings are almost always a fiasco...
...Passman's relationship to previous presidents and State Departments, say long-time observers, had been corrupt and contentious...
...The most significant result of this behavior is to make officials in the Departments of State and Treasury totally disrespect the Chairman's opinions...
...However, when it gets to the time—either during hearings, during mark-ups, during floor debate or during House-Senate conferences—when the budgets must be determined and when the administration is pushing and pleading for its money, Long becomes a rude and enraged man...
...from Princeton, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a stint at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study and 17 years as a Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins...
...Instead of casting aside differences for the sake of party unity, Long and the administration began to fight "budget battles...
...He asked former Bank president Stephen Dubrul: ' 'Do you feel it is prudent to place the potential for nuclear weaponry in the hands of what some people feel is a repressive dictatorship...
...Long's battle has led one top administration official to describe Long as "exceedingly dangerous...
...Most important, he says, the farmer does not have to bend over for every planting, thereby saving a great deal of energy...
...In 1974 he pushed through an amendment to direct the U.S...
...But Long seems also to be part "crotchety old man" and such behavior leads only to unnecessary conflict...
...To add action to indignation, the Chairman pushed through an amendment in January that would require OPIC to spend 50% of its total dollar volume in insurance and financing on small businesses (firms with total assets of less than $7.5 million...
...The Chairman has accused the funding organizations of allowing their projects and loans to benefit only the elites in third world countries...
...They are the ones who make the money out of it...
...He is the leading Congressional proponent oiSmall is Beautiful and he often quotes E. F. Schumacher...
...This is largely because Clarence Long may hold the least productive hearings in the history of Capitol Hill...
...Attached to his name, he had a Ph.D...
...He pushes for the use of such instruments as the "one-shot seeder," one of which he has next to his desk...
...David Obey (Dem., Wi...
...He backed a notorious amendment which declared it illegal for the United States to finance Uganda, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Mozambique, Angola and Cuba (Treasury and the lending institutions believed, as one put it, "Long wanted to make the World Bank an agent of U.S...
...Long says that this six foot stick can be placed in the ground, shoot out a seed, and then be picked up and "replanted" at a necessary distance...
...And members of Congress are just as dependent on his decisions: In general, when an Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman brings "his" bill to the full House, the other members—ignorant of the details of the subject-^will concur with their colleague...
...The Chairman said during the debate that it was necessary "to put OPIC's feet to the fire...
...But minutes later he was back to his favorite mode of communication, one of his fustian tirades...
...limit aid to India because of that country's nuclear program...
...As one result, the banks and AID have been put on the defensive...
...Clarence Long has the potential to be an effective and constructive Chairman...
...peter kovler has written for the New York Times, The Nation and other journals...
...or as Cong...
...Blumenthal shot back, "No, I'm not...
...He tells them, along with the Congress and the public, that their "help" is not getting to the "poorest of the poor...
...For instance, last winter when Laos had asked for famine relief from the United States, Long's disapproval alone, according to some in the administration, prevented the State Department from granting the aid...
...Minutes later, after a bit more discussion, the Secretary tensed up, clenched his fists and ^looking ready to leap over the table, said: "Mr...
...One high -ranking administration official said that Long's hearings were like "Mack Sennett comedies" and added that he thought "it would be an embarrassment for school-children to see it...
...In February when Patricia Derian, head of the State Department's Human Rights office, was testifying, the meeting was suddenly interrupted when the Chairman picked up the ringing telephone that was behind his chair...
...But such cooperation is rare...
...How's my baby...
...at a great savings...
...second ranking Democratic member, described it loudly at last year's mark-up session: "This is a circus...
...He screamed into it: "Hello, Babycakes...
...since 1975 he has been trying to make the U.S...
...Long's cause ce'lebre is to make AID and the banks use more small-scale light technology...
...He rarely sees Ambassadors but spends many hours looking at "hard to get to" projects...
...But even though Blumenthal stayed, the damage had been done...
...More, Long has played an important role in trying to limit aid to Nicaragua...
...While staff, witnesses and a few public spectators began to laugh, it became clear that Long was perfectly serious and that he believed there was nothing improper or unusual about such an outpouring...
...Without exception, Long is believed when he says, and he does so at least once each day,' 'The aid must get to the poorest of the poor...
...Long has also earned some credibility because it is recognized that unlike many of his colleagues, he really does try...
...In any case, it appears that at least for the next 2¥z years, Professor Long will try to lecture and pressure the administration, while, simultaneously, the administration will try to avoid taking his course...
...Long has helped to create a hostile mood toward them, one that is becoming increasingly widespread...
...In addition to his advocacy of small-scale technology, Long is one of the leading Congressional spokesmen for nuclear non-proliferation...
...Last year Long began to assault the international lending budget, having played a key role in a successful attempt to politicize the banks...
...And in March when Secretary Blumenthal testified on behalf of the IFIs, Long repeatedly interrupted him...
...and last year he sharply criticized the Export-Import Bank for giving a $644 million loan for a nuclear power plant in the Philippines...
...At every one of his hearings, the Chairman castigated the, foreign service officers who run the foreign aid programs...
...Indeed, the former Chairman is now under investigation for allegedly receiving kickbacks...
...That the Louisiana Congressman tad been removed brought great relief to the partisans of AID and the IFIs...
...Clarence Long...
...Chairman, I have one request to make: Would you allow me to finish a sentence...
...He is certainly open to new foreign aid ideas and the administration could certainly benefit from listening to that side of him...
...He has served as legislative assistant and speech writer for several Washington political figures...
...Long has also been one of the most outspoken members in the fight against the "elitist" Overseas Private Investment Corporation...
...He ranted and shouted and declared that the administration had asked for too much money and that the administration was trying to get around Congress Commonweal: 756 (viz...
...For example, Long asked AID Administrator John Gilligan, the former Ohio Governor, to investigate the possibility of an "Intermediate Technology Saturation Program" for Honduras...
...In a hearing in February '77, Long expressed a typical statement to the Treasury's Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, Fred Bergsten: "I am not sure I have ever been able to get the message over to you folks, and the State Department that lending money to poor countries does not necessarily mean that you are lending money to help poor people...
...PETER KOVLER ALTHOUGH the acrimony has not been as apparent as in the last years of the Vietnam war, Congress and the administration continue to struggle for control of foreign aid policy...
...foreign policy...
...Early in the year he criticized the agency for its focus on exporting industries: "What we do is turn most of the gravy over to the people in the export and import industries...
...Indeed, while there is nothing morally or ethically wrong with this sort of "Longism," all observers believe it contributes to a general disrespect...
...During the 1977 Appropriations meeting on the delivery of arms to that country, Long sprang to his feet and told the Committee what Amnesty International had to say about the Somoza regime: ' 'The unprotected rural population bears the brunt of abuses of human rights and prisoners are held incommunicado for months at a time.'' While the administration's position of granting aid finally prevailed, it was another instance where the Chairman and the State Department clashed and it added to the mutual distrust...
...And in the 1978 budget, the Chairman used his position to ask for a cut of a.whopping $524 million in funds for the IFIs...
...Long is the Chairman of that panel (with that position, he is deemed a member of the House's "College of Cardinals") and he wields a good deal more than a gavel...
...In a thrice-a-week ritual between January and June, administration spokesmen have appeared before that subcommittee to explain why they need their money...
...Blumenthal listened somberly, even as many believed the Secretary had every right to get up and leave...
...Staffers who work on the subcommittee have called him "manic-depressive," "senile," "mad" and "crazy...
...On overseas inspection trips, for instance, Long is known as the first up in the morning and the last in bed at night, almost as energetic as the late Hubert Humphrey...
...But it soon became obvious that tte consensus was wrong...
...Unquestionably, Long's favorite target is the World Bank...
...To the executive branch Long's thumbs up or thumbs down can often determine whether a program will be implemented...
...N EITHER the banks nor AID believe that most of their funding should go in this direction, although, thanks to Long's prodding, there has been some movement...
...Clarence Long (Dem., Maryland...
...Long has obviously not forgiven McNamara and has tried to exert more control over the World Bank's funds...
...The poor worker gets a bare wage, when he gets a job at all...
...It should also be noted that despite Long's focus on the IFIs he has still found time to move against the bilateral AID programs...
...While his influence has not been as widespread, it has led one administrator to denounce him: "Congress is already in an anti-bilateral mood," he said, "but it makes it especially hard when the Chairman is leading the charge...
...But even more significant to the Chairman's thinking is his view that the money does not "trickle down...
...Long was perceived as an intellectual liberal who by background and political persuasion would be able to work closely and constructively with the Carter people...
...i A long hearing is sometimes zany, sometimes uproarious and frequently rancorous...
...And each time they are greeted, questioned and then judged by the man who is probably the most influential congressman in foreign aid, 69-year-old Rep...
...After some research, Gilligan wrote to Long, saying that such a program might bring "a broad range of low-cost, labor-intensive, light-capital technologies which could significantly increase productivity and incomes of up to 120,000 small Honduran farmers over the next five years...
...In the fragile Executive-Congressional relationship which so depends on cordiality, the two men had publicly been rude to each other...
...To a large extent this clash takes place in the House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee where the Agency for International Development and the International Financial Institutions must have their budgets approved...
...And, there is increasipg fear that if Long's limitations are turned into laws that Clarence Long will increase his power in the House...
...However, even if Long's threats do not materialize, there is no doubt that there will be a lingering hostility . . . and that there will be more battles next year...
...The Chairman wants the international funding organizations to limit their emphasis on "urban, indrastructure" projects that, in Long's view, tend to help only the wealthier denizens in recipient countries...
...He has written seven books and dozens of articles on labor, unemployment and statistics...
...Part of the reason is that the Chairman believes that the Bank's head, Robert McNamara, is a totally incredible man...
...Long did, then, apologize...
...And, in response, the administration has refused to flinch...
...Long has distinct memories of times when the former Secretary of Defense appeared before the Congress "with charts and with a seemingly infallible memory" and "told us how well the war in Vietnam was progressing...
Vol. 105 • November 1978 • No. 23
