News In Brief
| Washington
Reagan to ask $93 million in rush Salvadorean aid
President Reagan, concerned by a long congressional debate on proposed new aid for Central America, will request $93 million in emergency military assistance to El Salvador, the White House said Thursday.
To speed the release of the funds, Mr. Reagan has decided to bypass regular congressional procedures and ask the Senate Appropriations Committee to add the money to legislation to provide food aid for drought-stricken countries in Africa, spokesman Larry Speakes said.
Congressional sources said they believed Reagan would also ask for emergency approval of about $20 million in covert aid to anti-Sandinist rebels in Nicaragua.
The plan was for the Nicaraguan funds to be attached to a bill providing money for low-income Americans who cannot afford to pay their heating bills, the congressional sources said.
Mr. Speakes said that military aid funds for El Salvador ran out at the end of February and that there was ''an urgent need'' for more aid to help it in its struggle with leftist guerrillas.
