Cutting foreign aid to help balance the budget is a ruse

By

Opinion

August 27, 2019 - 10:52 AM

President Donald Trump talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a cabinet meeting at the White House on July 16.

Isolationists and ultra-conservatives thought they had scored a victory last week when President Trump initially agreed to cut U.S. foreign aid. Though the proposed $4 billion is less than one-tenth of one percent of the federal budget, White House acting budget director Russ Vought and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told the president international aid is little more than wasteful spending.

Yes, our national debt promises to cripple future generations. But no, such cuts do nothing to address that problem.

FROM THE GET-GO, the measure to rescind the budget line item carried hints of deceit.

First, it went behind the back of Congress, which had already approved spending for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. Second, the administration planned to submit the rescission before Congress — on vacation until Sept. 9 — had time to act before the fiscal year ends next month.

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