Friday, July 21, 2017
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Rebuffing a Republican president, a GOP-led Senate panel Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to foreign aid and deep reductions in spending on domestic programs such as education, housing and energy.
The powerful Appropriations Committee that oversees spending for the federal government approved the plan on a party-line vote.
In May, Trump proposed a cut of some 32 percent in spending in diplomacy programs such as economic aid and contributions to international organizations. The committee agreed on spending about $11 billion more than the president sought for $51.2 billion next year for the State Department and related agencies.
While overall spending would remain frozen, bills funding education, housing and transportation, homeland security and energy would all receive increases. An additional $3 billion would come from a trust fund that’s supposed to be dedicated to crime victims, and emergency war funding is sprinkled generously to limit cuts to foreign aid.
The Senate panel tries to work on a bipartisan basis. Both parties want a budget deal to increase spending but negotiations by top Capitol Hill leaders and the administration have yet to start in earnest. The fiscal year starts Oct. 1, and a stopgap funding measure will be required to avert a government shutdown.
Democrats pressed for higher spending but are working cooperatively in crafting bills under the plan.
The move by the Senate panel is in sharp contrast to action in the House, where Republicans are pushing budget and spending plans that would increase the Pentagon’s budget by about $70 billion above current levels and cut most domestic agencies, though not as sharply as Trump would like.