Clinton Vetoes Congress-Approved Foreign Aid Bill ����US President Bill Clinton vetoed a foreign aid bill approved by the Republican-controlled Congress on October 18, saying the bill is not adequate for the US to retain its leading role in the world. ����The 12.6 billion US dollar foreign aid bill was strongly opposed by the Democrats and the administration, who believe that it will shortchange the foreign policy interests of the United States. ����Speaking to reporters here, Clinton said the bill provides inadequate support for the foreign affairs. He called on Republican congressional leaders to join the administration in seeking a solution to the budget impasse. ����Clinton also said he would sign another emergency spending measure to keep the government running beyond Thursday, but that it should be a short-term measure. ����"We have to put politics aside and seek common ground," Clinton said. ����Last week, Clinton lashed out at the Republicans as "reckless partisanship" after the Senate rejected a global nuclear test ban treaty. ����In an interview with the Associated Press, Clinton's national security advisor Sandy Berger said Monday that the two stunning setbacks by Congress will not deter Clinton from asserting US "leadership" in the world with ambitious foreign policy goals in the last year of his term. ����Berger denounced Congress as miserly for cutting nearly 2 billion US dollars from the foreign aid bill and for killing the global test ban treaty. ����The struggle between Clinton and Congress "is about whether America meets its obligations to the world, whether we see our stake in the world or turn our backs on the world," he said. ����"It's about whether the United States is going to follow the vision of the last 50 years in taking the lead in shaping the world or whether we follow a vision in which we are going to build a wall," Berger said. (Xinhua) Economicnews 1999-10-20 Page7 Full Story in Chinese