NEWS FLASH

Senate Panel Cuts Foreign Aid To Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan | The Senate Appropriations subcommittee that sets aid amounts from the U.S. to foreign countries passed a $52 billion foreign aid budget, $2.6 billion less than the Obama administration requested. Pakistan saw a precipitous drop in aid, with more than half of its funds eliminated due to its closure of NATO supply routes for the U.S.-led Afghan war after a clash between the U.S. and Pakistani armies on the country’s border. “[W]e’re not going to invest in a country that won’t help us in a reasonable way to deal with the threats to our forces in Afghanistan,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the subcommittee’s ranking member. But the panel also cut aid to Afghanistan itself by more than a quarter. Iraq’s aid was cut by more than three quarters, and Egypt’s reduced slightly. The subcommittee also placed various political conditions on the disbursement of aid.