FINANCE-U.S.: Clinton Asks For 8 Percent Increase in Foreign Aid

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 2000 (IPS) - President Bill Clinton is asking Congress to increase Washington’s foreign-affairs budget by about eight percent over the next year — to some 24.3 billion U.S. dollars — to be spent on everything from development aid and training foreign military officers to running the State Department.

The proposed budget is part of a 1.84 trillion dollar federal budget request for fiscal year 2001.

It includes big increases in funding for anti-terrorism efforts, debt relief, promoting US trade interests, and bolstering beleaguered allies, especially Colombia, which is to receive some 1.6 billion dollars worth of assistance over the next two years.

Much of the proposed increase is tied to beefing up security at US embassies abroad and to some 954 million dollars in mainly military aid Clinton wants Congress to approve for Colombia as soon as possible, according to State Department figures released here Monday.

Along with Nigeria, Indonesia, and Ukraine, which will each receive well over 100 million dollars in aid next year, Colombia has been identified by the administration as a “democracy” whose fate will have a major impact on its regional neighbours.

The administration is also proposing to spend tens of millions of dollars more than in the past on a series of “global” problems, especially on protecting tropical forests, fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, promoting family planning, developing new vaccines against common but deadly diseases in poor countries, and reducing child labour overseas.

Still, total foreign-affairs spending, even if approved, will come to less than 10 percent of the Pentagon’s proposed budget, also released Monday, of some 280 billion dollars for 2001.

And, despite the modest increase in overall diplomatic spending, the total amounts to only about 40 percent in real terms of what Washington spent each year on foreign affairs in the mid-1980s.

“Diplomacy is our nation’s first line of defense,” said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. “This entire array of international programmes only consume about one penny out of every federal dollar we spend, but that one percent may be responsible for 50 percent of the history that is written about our era…”

The new budget proposals will be presented to Congress in three major packages over the year.

The first will be a 1.65 billion dollar supplemental spending bill for fiscal year 2000, which began Oct 1. It includes the 818 million dollars for Colombia, some 625 million dollars for Kosovo and south- eastern Europe, and 210 million dollars to finance Washington’s participation in a multilateral scheme to eliminate most of the debt held by the world’s 42 poorest countries.

Clinton had asked Congress last year for both the Kosovo and the debt packages, but the Republican-led Congress adjourned without acting on them.

Instead, it approved a 123 million dollar installment on the debt-reduction plan and a special request for 1.8 billion dollars to support the Middle East peace process, bringing total international affairs spending for 2000 to 22.2 billion dollars.

The second package, for more than 6.5 billion dollars, covers the costs of the State Department’s administration for fiscal 2001, including 1.1 billion dollars to upgrade embassy security, as well as almost 1.7 billion dollars in mandatory US contributions to the United Nations, its specialised agencies and peacekeeping operations, and other multilateral organisations.

The final package, for over 15 billion dollars, may prove the most difficult to pass.

The big-ticket items in the bill include some 3.5 billion dollars in military aid — most of it to Israel and Egypt, Washington’s two largest aid recipients; 2.3 billion dollars in economic assistance, also directed mostly to Middle East allies; 2.1 billion dollars in development assistance, of which about 800 million dollars is earmarked for sub-Saharan Africa; 1.4 billion dollars to multilateral development banks; and about 1.3 billion dollars to promote trade and investment by US companies abroad.

Of these, the biggest single increase is earmarked for the US Export-Import Bank, which provides credits and guarantees to US companies doing business abroad. Its funding will rise by some 20 percent to over one billion dollars if Congress approves the bill.

Other major programmes which could see their funding substantially boosted include anti-terrorism programmes, which are slated to almost double from 38 million dollars for the current year to 72 million dollars in 2001; embassy security and construction, which will rise from 740 million dollars to close to 1.1 billion dollars; debt reduction, for which Clinton is asking 262 million dollars in addition to the 210 million dollars contained in the supplemental package.

Clinton also wants to increase funding for family planning programmes by about a third to 541 million dollars, including 25 million dollars for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Both earmarks are certain to be opposed by anti-abortion forces in the House of Representatives who have been battling the administration on the issue for several years.

On less controversial global issues, Clinton hopes to almost double funding — from 80 million dollars to 150 million dollars, including some 37 million dollars for debt-for-nature swaps, to protect tropical forests; to more than double spending — from 45 million dollars to 110 million dollars – on fighting the use of child labour abroad; and to increase funding by more than a third — to 150 million dollars – on preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and supporting vaccination drives in poor countries.

Contributions to multilateral development banks would also increase under Clinton’s plan – from 1.1 billion dollars in the current year to 1.35 billion dollars in 2001.

In addition, Clinton wants 176 million dollars for the Washington-based Global Environment Facility (GEF), which provides grants to poor countries to help them deal with trans-border environmental problems, including ozone depletion, global warming, and biodiversity loss.

Last year, the Republican-led Congress approved only 36 million dollars, leaving a debt of 136 million dollars.

The administration intends to leave its voluntary contributions to specialised UN agencies largely unchanged in 2001. It proposes to increase its funding of the UN Development Programme, however, from 80 million dollars this year to 90 million dollars in 2001.

It plans to maintain its 110 million dollar contribution to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which also could be, however, the main beneficiary of a new, 50 million dollar contribution to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations.

On bilateral assistance, Israel and Egypt will together receive about some five billion dollars, ensuring their positions as by far the largest recipients of US aid.

The countries of the former Soviet Union stand to receive some 830 million dollars, with Ukraine laeding the pack with 171 million dollars, followed by Russia (162 million dollars), and Georgia (85 million dollars.

As countries which have emerged from authoritarian rule in just the past year, both Indonesia and Nigeria will also see hefty increases in their assistance.

Aid to these countries will rise from 102 million dollars in 1999 to about 150 million dollars, including some 57 million dollars in balance-of-payments support, for Jakarta; and from only 34 million dollars to 106 million dollars for Abuja during the same period.

“(Strengthening democracy) is not just a question of good civics or high-minded values; it is a strategic imperative,” Albright said. “A world moving in the democratic direction will provide a far better environment for American security and prosperity than a world falling back into the clutches of dictators and demagogues.”

But the most spectacular increase in aid planned over the next year is for Colombia which last year was already the third biggest recipient of US aid in the world, having received almost 300 million dollars in mostly military and police aid. In the next 18 to 24 months, that assistance should more than quadruple to some 1.3 billion dollars.