President Rejects OMB’s Proposal to Cut from Foreign Assistance Programs

From the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (http://www.usglc.org/):

After weeks of internal negotiations, late last week at an Oval office meeting, the president rejected the proposal by the Office of Budget and Management that would have cut more than $4 billion in foreign assistance programs.

This result is a huge win for the American people.

You can read more details in the Washington Post and POLITICO.

This wouldn’t have happened without a powerful chorus of voices stepping up and speaking out:

• Secretary Mike Pompeo brought his swagger – standing up for the importance of the State Department and USAID with an important assist from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
• Unequivocal bipartisan leadership from Capitol Hill was absolutely essential. The list is long, but started with a tough letter from the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – Senators Jim Risch and Bob Menendez – and House Foreign Affairs Committee – Reps. Elliot Engel and Mike McCaul.
• Essential to this effort were top appropriators who truly made a difference – Senators Lindsey Graham and Patrick Leahy alongside Reps. Nita Lowey and Hal Rogers.
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi also weighed in with Secretary Mnuchin after their budget deal negotiations.
• Calls and letters from the business, faith, military, and humanitarian communities are too numerous to list – everyone from leading CEOs to top university presidents reaching out to share why leading globally matters locally.

There was a lot at stake this time:

• More than 7% of funding for the State Department and USAID
• From programs to help fight Ebola in the Congo to counter-ISIS programs in the Middle East and Africa and much more

And unfortunately OMB is still causing some problems:

• Apparently there’s still a 2% cap on the unobligated spending for some key programs at State and USAID, which could prevent these programs from being fully spent before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

However, Congress returns on September 9th and they may have something to say about this.