WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuter) - U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and other key officials on Monday said they would urge President Bill Clinton to veto a Republican foreign aid bill

because it would infringe on the president's right to set foreign policy.

"I regret to say that legislation now pending in the House of Representatives ... the Gilman bill, wages an extraordinary assault on the president's constitutional authority to manage foreign policy," Christopher told a conference on the Western Hemisphere called the Council of the Americas. "Provisions in the bill would ...clearly impair the president's ability in the field of foreign affairs. If this bill reaches the president's desk, I'll have absolutely no choice but to recommend that he veto it," he added. White House spokesman Mike McCurry did not repeat the veto threat but said "the resident certainly understands the secretary's strong feelings on that." Separately, in an official administration analysis sent to Congress, the White House Budget Office reported that in addition to Christopher, Defence Secretary William Perry, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright were among the others who also would recommend a veto. The

bill would "seriously undermine the president's prerogatives ... and deprive the United States of the resources necessary to exercise leadership," impairing the North Korea nuclear accord and efforts to maintain stable ties with China, among other policies, the analysis said.

The House is due to begin debating the bill on Tuesday. It would slash international affairs spending from $20.3 billion in 1995 and abolish three foreign affairs agencies -- the Agency for International Development, the U.S. Information Agency and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

The measure, named for Republican Representative Benjamin Gilman of New York, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, would also require the Democratic president to appoint a special envoy to Tibet who would try to encourage negotiations between the Dalai Lama and China. The House bill would reverse the administration's recent decision to ship intercepted Cuban refugees back to Cuba and cut aid to Russia because of arms sales to Iran. It would force closing some embassies and ban further normalising of ties with Vietnam until Hanoi accounts for all missing servicemen. Christopher did not refer to what some say is an even worse bill passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A senior U.S. official said later Christopher believes "we still have some negotiating room" with Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, the Republican panel chairman with whom Christopher has

tried to develop a constructive relationship.

The official said it should not be inferred that Christopher supports the Helms bill. With the House bill facing debate and a vote this week, the official said: "We think right now it's

important to send a very strong signal."