The State Department of the United States has voiced its opposition to a Capitol Hill move that seeks to dramatically cut foreign assistance for several countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Commenting on a House of Representative Appropriations Committee bill for the next fiscal year, a spokesperson at the State Department, which leads foreign assistance programs, said the administration was concerned at the proposed cuts and would work closely with the Congress to resolve the issue.
“This is just the start of process. We’re looking forward to working with Congress on this issue going forward, but that being said, we are very concerned,” Marie Harf, Deputy spokesperson at the State Department, said.
“Our concern is that these proposed cuts, which we would consider, would be devastating if put into effect, would hurt our ability to stand up for American interests and values around the world. The US can’t lead if we retreat in this way,” she added.
Harf particularly pointed out the proposal on a 41 percent cut to economic and development assistance.
“This would dramatically reduce our assistance to countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mexico, Colombia, South Sudan, Somalia, and Burma. It would also force us to scale back the Feed the Future program, setting back progress to reduce poverty in Africa by improving agricultural productivity. Also, the bill zeroes out voluntary funding for our contributions to UN organisations, including organisations like UNICEF.”
“Our position is that the State Department is uniquely situated to continue with the programs, the assistance, the engagement on the development and economic side that we’ve been doing,” the spokesperson noted.
“It’s the start of the process, so we are looking forward to working with Congress to get to a place that we feel is more acceptable and in the US interests to be able to continue promoting our security, our interests, and our values overseas.”