Remarks on Budget Really Take the Cake
The occasion was the 25th anniversary of the Agency for International Development, but, when the guest of honor, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, unveiled the cake, it measured only 10 inches across.
“There’s not enough to go around,” Shultz said in mock concern, to which AID Administrator M. Peter McPherson replied: “That’s the point. It’s reflective of our budget.”
The exchange drew laughter from the crowd of 200 in the State Department reception, but McPherson said the agency, which administers the State Department’s economic foreign aid program, has little to be happy about in light of congressional cuts in its budget.
Echoing that theme, the group toasted one another with glasses of soft drinks rather than Champagne.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
