Name: Democrats call for $12B boost in State, USAID budget
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Democrats call for $12B boost in State, USAID budget

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The proposal says the additional dollars should help Washington compete with China, prepare for pandemics and fight climate change.Sen. Chris Murphy speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. | Greg Nash-Pool/Getty ImagesA handful of Democratic lawmakers are proposing a massive, $12 billion boost in the U.S. international affairs budget, money they say should go toward fighting climate change, preparing for pandemics and competing with China.The initiative follows years of attempts by then-President Donald Trump to slash the budgets of government divisions such as the State Department by as much as a third. While Congress blocked Trump’s cuts, getting a $12 billion increase through a 50-50 Senate will be difficult given likely Republican resistance to more government spending.Still, the lawmakers making the pitch — Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland; and Reps. Ami Bera of California and David Cicilline of Rhode Island — see it as a fortuitous time, especially considering the lessons the U.S. is learning as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. They argue that it makes no sense to keep investing more money in the U.S. military while ignoring the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and similar programs.“If this year has taught us anything, it’s that the biggest threats posed to our country really aren’t foreign armies,” Murphy said in a statement. “We must maintain the strongest military on the planet, but we have to get smarter about the national security challenges that can only be met with non-military solutions.”The lawmakers are proposing raising the international affairs funding, which covers the State Department and USAID, to $68.7 billion from $56.6 billion, according to .To a large degree they are echoing arguments made by President Joe Biden and top officials about the need to rethink foreign policy priorities. The Biden administration in particular is concerned about being able to compete with the ambitious communist government in Beijing.Cicilline stressed similar worries.“Over the last decade, China has doubled its diplomatic budget and expanded its malign sphere of influence,” he said in a statement. “Our diplomats deserve a budget that meets their needs and allows them to do the critical work of keeping our country safe.“The four lawmakers held a call Tuesday with reporters to lay out more details of their plan, which would increase funding to strengthen anti-propaganda efforts, combat overseas corruption, bolster the diplomatic corps and support climate initiatives. Murphy described the plan as “aggressive” but “not unrealistic.”They emphasized the importance of putting out a detailed plan now before the new administration submits its budget, as a way to show other lawmakers the need for the increased spending.“This is a unique moment with a new administration and a new understanding in the American public of the threats presented to the United States, for us to reset our national security budget,” Murphy said. “We’ve taken some risks by putting pen to paper and proposing real numbers and specific increases in programming, but we think it’s the moment for specifics.”Murphy and Van Hollen said they had spoken with administration officials about their plan, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Murphy declined to say whether the administration supported the increases, but he added that there were a lot of “sympathetic voices” inside the administration who acknowledged the need for a strong State Department and USAID.Although a $12 billion increase is a large ask, Bera told reporters that he viewed the number as a “down payment” to help the U.S. build the necessary diplomatic and development tools. It’s also possible that this could be an opportunity to reallocate resources from the Department of Defense budget that would be better suited under different departments or agencies, he added.

The proposal says the additional dollars should help Washington compete with China, prepare for pandemics and fight climate change.Sen. Chris Murphy speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. | Greg Nash-Pool/Getty ImagesA handful of Democratic lawmakers are proposing a massive, $12 billion boost in the U.S. international affairs budget, money they say should go toward fighting climate change, preparing for pandemics and competing with China.The initiative follows years of attempts by then-President Donald Trump to slash the budgets of government...

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Democrats call for $12B boost in State, USAID budget

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