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Trump Again Proposes Big Cut to Foreign Aid

Steve Herman

   WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is proposing
   a 21% cut in aid the United States provides to foreign countries, with
   a budget request of $44.1 billion for such programs, compared with
   $55.7 billion enacted in fiscal 2020.

   Lawmakers and others predict Trump's plan to cut one-fifth of foreign
   aid from the current level will not survive scrutiny on Capitol Hill,
   especially in an election year.

   "...the White House should save some trees rather than sending us a
   budget that's headed straight here," tweeted House Foreign Affairs
   Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, attaching a photo of a blue plastic
   "House of Representatives" trash receptacle.

     Response to the [1]@StateDept proposed budget from chairman of
     [2]@HouseForeign: [3]https://t.co/Xc36PzisTW
     -- Steve Herman (@W7VOA) [4]February 10, 2020

   Administration officials call that approach to the foreign aid budget
   cuts wrong.

   "We just disagree," said the acting director of the Office of
   Management and Budget, Russ Vought, in response to a VOA question at a
   White House briefing Monday. "The president disagrees with the idea
   that we should continue to have such robust levels of funding in the
   foreign aid category."

   Vought noted that under the [5]president's plan, which totals $4.8
   trillion for the entire federal government, there would still be about
   $40 billion in foreign aid.

   "So, it's a still a substantial amount," according to Vought. "We're
   still going to be at a very high level compared to the rest of the
   world, in terms of what we provide. Humanitarian assistance is still,
   under this budget with carry-over funding, going to be the second
   highest that the U.S. has ever provided to the world."

References

   1. https://twitter.com/StateDept?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   2. https://twitter.com/HouseForeign?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   3. https://t.co/Xc36PzisTW
   4. https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/1226944445066727425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   5. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/budget_fy21.pdf

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