Coalition Formed to Press Aid for Ex-Soviet Republics : Legislation: Two Iowa lawmakers bring together a wide range of groups to nudge Congress into approving costly package.

WASHINGTON — Days before Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin’s arrival for his first summit with President Bush, two Iowa congressmen have begun to organize an effort aimed at freeing up the Bush Administration’s $600-million aid package for Russia and other former Soviet republics.

Democratic Rep. Dave Nagle and Republican Rep. Jim Leach on Friday assembled organizations ranging from the ultra-liberal Council for a Livable World to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to bring pressure on reluctant lawmakers to endorse the President’s embattled proposal.

Many members of Congress--including House Majority Whip David E. Bonior (D-Mich.)--have opposed consideration of aid for Russia or other states formerly under Moscow’s rule until the President endorses a jobs program to help Americans thrown out of work by the recession.

Both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs panel have approved the package of credits for food purchases and technical assistance to help Russia and its neighbors make the transition from a centrally controlled economy to a more market-oriented system.

But leaders in both the Senate and House said it is unlikely that Congress will approve the legislation before Yeltsin’s June 16-18 visit to Washington for meetings with Bush and an address to a joint session of the House and Senate.

Nagle, who presided over a news conference announcing that more than 30 national groups support the aid, acknowledged that he and Leach face an uphill task in persuading their colleagues to endorse the costly package.

Leach said many lawmakers feared retribution at the polls for supporting any kind of foreign assistance at a time of so many unmet domestic needs.

Nagle said he hoped the formation of the coalition of business, farm, church and public interest groups would persuade the Democratic leadership in the House to schedule an early vote.

The coalition includes representatives of groups that seldom are found working on the same side of issues on Capitol Hill, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, the Independent Bankers Assn., the American Soybean Assn., the Natural Resources Defense Council and representatives of Armenian-Americans and Ukrainian-Americans.

“The Cold War is over, so the goal is to exchange grain instead of bullets,” Leach said.

John Isaacs, president of the Council for a Livable World, added, “The United States spent hundreds of billions of dollars to confront the Soviet Union, and now it should spend a small fraction of that amount to avoid confrontation.”