Friday, March 13, 1992

Pres. Bush meets with aides to discuss recent compromise plan for providing loan guarantees to Israel proposed by Sens. Patrick Leahy and Robert Kasten of the Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee [the committee isryesponsible for preparing draft legislation authorizing U.S. foreign aid expenditures in 1992]. The proposal would grant Israel $1 billion in guarantees immediately followed by an additional $1 billion later in the year. Israel would receive an additional $2 billion annually for the next five years but subject to presidential approval. Each dispersement would also be subject to the "Leahy deduction," a figure representing the amount Israel spends on new settlement construction [named after Sen. Leahy, who first proposed adopting such a deduction]. (NYT 3/14)

Israeli officials state they will allow U.S. to inspect Patriot missile batteries in Israel to determine if any are missing or have been tampered with. (WP 3/14)