Foreign Affairs Shuffle Advances

THE DAILY FED

Foreign Affairs Shuffle Advances

Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and other key Senators yesterday agreed on a bill that would reorganize foreign affairs agencies and pay most of the debt the United States has with the United Nations, The Washington Post reported.

Under the bill, Congress would agree to a plan worked out by the Clinton Administration to reorganize the foreign affairs establishment. The U.S. Information Agency and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency would become part of the State Department, and the Agency for International Development's director would report directly to the Secretary of State.

The administration worked out the plan days before the Senate considered the Chemical Weapons Convention. The plan was seen by many as the administration's way of meeting Helms' demands for a foreign affairs reorganization in order to gain his support for the convention. Helms is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The bill will be marked up Thursday by Helms' committee. The committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, also supports the bill.