House’s spending plan for foreign operations would be dangerous

“An 11 percent cut to the budgets of USAID and State may look better than the 30 percent cut proposed by the President, but it would still be profoundly damaging”

WASHINGTON — POLITICO is reporting that House leaders have set the 302(b) for State and Foreign Operations at $47.5 billion for FY18 — a cut of $5.6 billion from the FY17 enacted level of $53.1 billion, representing a reduction of 10.5 percent.

The following statement can be attributed to Ian Koski, North America communications director for The ONE Campaign:

“ONE is deeply disappointed in House leaders’ decision to try to reduce the spending cap for State and Foreign Operations by $5.6 billion next year. An 11 percent cut to the budgets of USAID and State may look better than the 30 percent cut proposed by the President, but it would still be profoundly damaging. It would also be dangerous. Rather than considering it in contrast with the President’s budget, though, we should be looking at the House plan in contrast with the strong recommendation of 16 retired four-star generals and admirals who testified to their committees about the importance of fully funding State and USAID last month.

“Considering the number of Republican members of the House of Representatives who have spent the last few months blasting President Trump’s plan to cut the nation’s international affairs budget, this news is particularly disappointing. An 11 percent cut would make Americans less safe and significantly weaken America’s leadership in the world, but most importantly, it would dramatically reduce the number of people living in extreme poverty who would be helped by American aid.

“In the absence of a budget, we expect Senate Appropriators to come through with a more responsible spending level. At a minimum, the Senate should continue to fund State and Foreign Operations at its current level.”