US Congress approves $300m to Pakistan in Foreign aid bill
By Khalida Mazhar - PakistanTimes.net Foreign Correspondent

WASHINGTON (US): The House of Representatives has approved a $20.9 billion foreign aid bill that includes $300 million in assistance to Pakistan, a US ally in the war against terrorism.

On a 358-39 vote, the House signed off on the spending package that provides $20.9 billion for foreign policy programmes and provides financial aid to poor nations for health, education, counter-narcotics and military initiatives.

The Senate is expected to approve the bill next week, sending the measure to President Bush for his signature.

The Package

Overall, the package provides $1 billion more for State Department programmes than the budget year that ended September-30 but about $2 billion less than what the president wanted, reflecting budget constraints caused by the Iraq war, hurricane recovery and the soaring deficit.

A compromise between House and Senate measures, the bill commits millions of dollars more to fight the spread of AIDS and other diseases in Africa and poor countries elsewhere. It’s slated to get $2.8 billion - $629 million above last year’s total and $268 million more than what the president sought for this year.

Millennium Challenge Programme Sliced

However, lawmakers sliced the President’s request for the Millennium Challenge programme, a hallmark in Bush’s effort to spread democracy to underdeveloped countries by tying foreign aid to political, economic and human rights reforms.

The programme has been slow to get off the ground. The President had wanted $3 billion for the effort, but lawmakers sliced that to $1.8 billion, citing budget pressures.

Nevertheless, the Millennium Challenge programme still will get $282 million more than it did last year. Lawmakers also drastically reduced the president’s $459 million request for economic and security programmes for Iraq to $61 million. They say that more than $3.5 billion remains from the original $18.4 billion Iraq reconstruction package.

The bill also provides money for countries helping in the war on terrorism, including, $2.3 billion for military aid and $240 million for economic assistance for Israel; $1.3 billion for military aid and $495 million for economic assistance for Egypt; and $300 million for Pakistan.●