Clinton Worried By Talk Of Cutting US Foreign Aid

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

(12-17) 08:36 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is distressed by calls from some Republicans to reduce foreign aid.

In a speech Friday at the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Clinton said that aid officials must reduce reliance on contractors and better coordinate their work to keep congressional support for foreign aid programs.

The Obama administration has requested $36.4 billion in foreign assistance in fiscal 2011.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/12/17/national/w083609S49.DTL

[w4rma]

1. I agree with the Republicans on this. (nt)

[davidthegnome]

2. Fiscally irresponsible

to continue to give so much in foreign aid when so many of our own are struggling. Fiscally irresponsible indeed, but not completely and absolutely depraved and moronic like the amount of money we're giving away to the wealthy. I fail to see any credibility here on the part of Clinton, or anyone else in this damned administration when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

[howaboutme]

3. I agree on this too

$36 BILLION, when Americans are sacrificing. It is an outrage to be borrowing money to give to modern countries such as Israel, Egypt and Jordan and others. When Americans don't have health care why are we giving billions to countries that already do? I support aid to help countries that really need it, but I don't consider those countries as needy.

BTW Eric Cantor is already positioning Israel's aid in our defense budget so that their aid is permanent entitlement. I assume Egypt and Jordan will be there too. http://jta.org/news/article/2010/10/24/2741415/cantor-take-israel-out-of-foreign-aid

http://action.aipac.org/security_aid/

[gratuitous]

4. $36 billion?

Hell, that's not even enough to run the war in Afghanistan for a quarter. But then, that's money spent on useless crap like wells or roads. Far better to buy armaments and make sure everyone has guns. That's the solution to poverty!

[pampango]

5. The US already gives a smaller percentage in foreign aid than any other developed country.

The repubs always want to cut it, since it goes to foreigners (poor ones, but foreigners nonetheless). How much do they want to cut it this time? I assume they also want to cut our contribution to the UN and any other ties with have with the rest of the world (other than our military budget of course).