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Jewish World Review March 30, 2011 / 24 Adar II, 5771 Cut foreign aid budget now By Dick Morris And Eileen McGann
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | American foreign aid appropriations have escalated from about $20 billion in 2000 to $50 billion today. Almost every single nation on earth gets our foreign aid. The major recipients of the $35 billion in economic aid we dispense are: Afghanistan, $2.6 billion; Israel, $3 billion; Iraq, $766 million; and Egypt, $1.6 billion. But beyond these aid packages, we give Africa $7 billion in economic aid each year. We donate $2 billion to the Western Hemisphere (only about $400 million of it to Haiti). We give Asia, apart from Afghanistan, $2 billion. And we give Europe almost $1 billion. Foreign aid has never been politically popular in the United States, and now is the time to put it on the table in the budget talks. If the Democrats want to shut down the government so that we can give more money in foreign aid, let them do it! While it is true that much of the foreign aid we dispense goes to a few countries, almost everybody gets something. Aside from the major recipients (Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq), many other nations get more than $100 million each year. A partial list appears at the end of this column. When Americans understand the extent to which we, as the nation running the largest budget deficit in the world, are subsidizing almost every other nation on the planet, their patience will be exhausted. Even if we hold apart from the proposed moratorium on foreign aid those nations currently in the midst of key foreign conflicts in which there is an American interest — Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Israel — there is still a pool of upward of $30 billion from which to cut. With half the fiscal year remaining, a prorated cut of $15 billion would fill most of the gap between the House and Senate proposals for reduction of spending. But the larger point is that House Republicans must put more than mere numbers in play in the debate with the administration and Senate Democrats. As pressing as the need to cut government spending and our budget deficit is, few will storm the barricades over the difference between $30 billion and $60 billion in budget cuts. But if the issue is whether to fund foreign aid to every nation on Earth, it becomes one that all can grasp, and the debate one in which all will participate — and not in a way to the Democrats' liking. And, if the negotiations do not succeed and a government shutdown looms, just shut down the foreign aid budget. The House should pass the rest of the CR. Let the rest of the government operate as usual; just foreign aid will no longer be dispensed. Democrats cannot and will not trigger a general shutdown to protect the foreign aid budget, believe me. Aid to nations Ivory Coast — $138M Democratic Republic of the Congo — $213M Ethiopia — $584M Ghana — $175M Kenya — $714M Liberia — $219M Malawi — $179M Mali — $169M Mozambique — $415M Namibia — $103M Nigeria — $648M Rwanda — $241M Senegal — $137M South Africa — $586M Sudan — $440M Tanzania — $550M Uganda — $480M Zambia — $409M Indonesia — $228M Philippines — $133M Vietnam — $123M Ukraine — $124M
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© 2009, Dick Morris
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