House Panel Cuts $2.4 Billion From Bush Foreign Aid Request
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The administration's signature foreign aid program and Iraq reconstruction would get less money than President Bush sought in a bill a House subcommittee approved Friday.
On a unanimous voice vote, the House Appropriations Committee's foreign operations panel approved a $21.3 billion measure that would pay for foreign assistance programs for the budget year that begins Oct. 1. Overall, the measure is $2.4 billion less than the $23.7 billion the administration wanted.
Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., and the subcommittee chairman, blamed the reduction on pressures in other areas of the budget, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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The bill would provide the $3.4 billion Bush wanted to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria throughout the world. And it has the $450 million he sought for assistance in Sudan, including $138 million for the war-ravaged Darfur region.
It also would make available $2.3 billion for the military in Israel and $120 million for economic assistance to that country, the amounts the president wanted.
The measure slices funding in two key areas.
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Bush would get $1 billion less for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the administration's hallmark program designed to reward developing nations for good governance and a commitment to democracy. The president wanted $3 billion, but the House — as it has in previous years — cut his request, this time to $2 billion.
Kolbe, a longtime supporter of the program, said the lower amount was necessary because of budget constraints. "Something's got to give somewhere," he said. The $2 billion is $248 million more than the program got in the current budget.
On Iraq, the president would get $522 million in the House bill to promote stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq, roughly $227 million below the $749 million he wanted. However, $1.6 billion for the effort is included in a separate war-spending bill making its way through Congress.
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"We're being very generous in our funding of Iraqi reconstruction needs," Kolbe said.
The House bill also would not provide $150 million the president initially sought in economic aid for the West Bank and Gaza.
Kolbe said the administration agreed with that reduction, given that the new Hamas-led government was elected after the president asked for the money in February. The Bush administration considers Hamas a terrorist organization, and has cut off much aid to the Palestinians.
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However, the administration has pledged to help meet the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people through charities and other means. To that end, the House bill would provide $80 million for humanitarian assistance and democracy programs as long as the money is not used to support Hamas.