U.S. Congress discussing emergency aid to Pakistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional leaders and the Obama administration are weighing whether to rush emergency aid to Pakistan as it battles an advancing Taliban insurgency, lawmakers from both parties said on Tuesday.

The amount being discussed is between $200 million (137 million pounds) and $400 million, the Senate's second-ranking Republican, Jon Kyl, said.

The Taliban's move towards the Pakistani capital in recent weeks has heightened fears in the United States about the stability of its nuclear-armed ally. Pakistan is also crucial to U.S. efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.

Pakistan began a military offensive on Tuesday against Taliban fighters in a key valley 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Islamabad.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that the United States could not contemplate the Taliban taking control of Pakistan's nuclear assets.

"Certainly we are discussing with the administration what is needed," House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters in response to a question about the possibility of rushing aid to Islamabad as it tries to stop the Taliban's creeping advance.

"It may be appropriate, and I believe the administration is looking right now at ... somewhere between two and four hundred million dollars, for both counterinsurgency and economic assistance, that we could pass really quickly, in just a matter of days," Kyl said about an hour later, expressing support for the idea in a separate press conference.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, a member of his party's leadership team, said he thought Senate Democrats would back the accelerated aid as well. He said the situation in Pakistan was "terribly worrisome."

Obama's Democrats control both houses of Congress, but minority Republicans have been able to use procedural hurdles to slow Senate action on matters they oppose.

"I can't tell you what action is being planned, either by the administration or by us, but that is under active discussion, what needs to be done," Hoyer said. "And if something needs to be done ... we're going to address it."

While Pakistan is expected to get money from a war funding bill that should be passed by Congress sometime this summer, "... if we need to do something earlier we would do that, I think," Hoyer said.

Asked if that could be as soon as next week, when Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari visits Washington, he said, "Could be."

"All of us are very concerned about what is happening in Pakistan," Hoyer said, adding: "The stability of Pakistan is very very important not only to the region but to the United States as well."

Pakistan is slated to get over $400 million to fund counterinsurgency programs and $1.4 billion in economic assistance from the war funding bill. Kyl agreed that waiting until the expected summer passage of that bill "could be too late."

(Editing by Eric Beech)