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 Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate
subcommittee responsible for diplomacy and foreign aid spending,
said Trump's proposal to cut the diplomacy and aid budget by one
third would "gut soft power."
"If we implemented this budget, you'd have to retreat from the world
or put a lot of people at risk," Graham told reporters. "This budget
is not going to go anywhere."
Congress sets the federal government budget, and Republicans who
control both houses and Democrats have said they do not support such
drastic cuts.
The funding cuts in Trump's plan for the fiscal year beginning in
October would mark a stark decrease in non-military U.S. government
engagement abroad as the administration pursues Trump's "America
First" world view.
Trump administration officials defend the cuts by saying the rest of
the world must do its "fair share" as the United States retreats
from its traditional spending abroad.
In all, the Trump proposal cuts about 32 percent from U.S. diplomacy
and aid budgets, or nearly $19 billion.
Trump's budget would cut U.S. funding for global health programs
including efforts focusing on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by
about one quarter, to about $6.5 billion for 2018.
The budget proposal envisions cuts to the President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program, a cornerstone of U.S. global
health assistance, which supports HIV/AIDS treatment, testing and
counseling for millions of people worldwide. Under Trump's budget,
PEPFAR funding would be $5 billion per year compared to about $6
billion annually now, the State Department said.
No patient currently receiving antiretroviral therapy, a treatment
for HIV, through PEPFAR funds will lose that treatment, officials
said.
The budget proposal also includes a steep cut to funding for
international organizations, without specifying which groups might
lose their funding. The NATO military alliance would continue to be
fully funded.
U.S. funding for international peacekeeping would fall to about $1.5
billion, a cut of over 50 percent from 2017 levels.
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The United States is the biggest contributor to the United Nations,
paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion core budget and 28.5 percent
of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget
"Given the growing threats we face, we should be supporting – not
slashing – anti-terrorism, law enforcement, and humanitarian
programs," Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
Trump's budget would reduce funding for educational and cultural
exchanges by 52 percent, including a 47 percent cut to the Fulbright
Program, which enables U.S. citizens to go abroad and brings foreign
students to study in the United States.
The Trump proposal assumes the State Department will maintain its
current structure, though Tillerson has said he wants to restructure
the agency and find efficiencies.
Nonetheless, the budget makes major shifts in some funding.
A core, $2.8 billion development account overseen by USAID that
funds agricultural, water, sanitation and other projects would be
consolidated with other funding streams to create the Economic
Support and Development Fund. That new account would then be cut by
about 45 percent compared to current funding levels.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Becker in Washington and Michelle
Nichols in New York; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Cynthia Osterman)
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