WHITE PLAINS, NY – Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) issued the following statement on President George W. Bush’s Fiscal Year 2006 budget request for foreign assistance programs.  Lowey is the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations:

“While I am pleased that overall spending for foreign operations has increased this year, I’m concerned that some core programs have been cut or held to last year’s levels.  Funding for global HIV/AIDS programs and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is important, but so is funding for basic education and USAID’s environmental and democracy-building programs.  Furthermore, we still do not have information as to what will be included in this year’s supplemental.  It is nearly impossible to evaluate the entire foreign aid budget without some guidance on what the Administration will request for the South Asia tsunami disaster and reconstruction and assistance in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Again this year, the Administration has greatly increased spending for the Millennium Challenge Corporation.  And, again this year, I am worried that a huge increase for this program will lead to cuts in proven, existing foreign assistance efforts.  The MCC has spent none of the funding previously appropriated by Congress for assistance to countries – I’m not sure that it is wise to increase funding when so many resources are sitting idle.

“And while I applaud the President for increasing funding for HIV/AIDS, I am concerned that only $330 million of funds requested would be available for countries not on the focus list for the President’s AIDS initiative.  This will prevent USAID from scaling up its response in countries where the pandemic is still emerging, particularly in Asia.  It’s simply bad policy to wait until HIV/AIDS threatens the stability of a nation before we offer our help. 

“I am also concerned that the budget may not match last year’s spending level on basic education – it does not clearly spell out the available funding nor does it commit to expanding this program to other nations.  Education is the cornerstone to economic and democratic development.  As we seek to promote stability and security abroad, there should be no greater priority.

“Finally, it is next to impossible to evaluate our foreign assistance programs by looking solely at this budget.  We already know from the Administration that a supplemental will include billions in foreign operations spending.  But without any details, we are budgeting in the dark – we need all the information to form a clear picture.  I hope the Administration soon presents its long-awaited supplemental request so that we might finally evaluate its foreign aid priorities.”