State dept chief Tillerson defends proposed aid cuts

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State dept chief Tillerson defends proposed aid cuts

6:03 CAT | 17 Mar 2017

AFP / USAID faces a potential funding cut of 28%

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has defended swingeing budget cuts to his own department proposed by President Donald Trump.

Speaking in Japan, he said the level of state department spending in the past had been “simply not sustainable” and he willingly accepted the “challenge”.

If Congress backs the budget, and that is far from a done deal, the state department and USAID face cuts of 28%.

Will the budget ever be passed anyway?

The budget is submitted to Congress as a series of bills – the “annual appropriations bills”. In order for each to succeed, it has to get 60 votes in the Senate, where the Republicans have 52 seats to 48 for the Democrats.

At least eight Democrats would have to vote for the cuts or at least refuse to obstruct it. Given the level of Democratic animosity towards Mr Trump, those possibilities look slim.

Meanwhile, several Republicans have publicly opposed moves to slash funding for diplomacy and foreign aid.

Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for the budgets, said last month: “It’s dead on arrival – it’s not going to happen. It would be a disaster… If you take soft power off the table then you’re never going to win the war.”

Source: BBC