Bush Hails Bid to Shift Control of Foreign Aid
President Bush today expressed his “delight” with Senate Republican leader Bob Dole’s proposal to shake up U.S. foreign aid allocations and give the White House, not Congress, more say over where the money goes.
“I want to see it put the power where it should be on this matter and not mastermind foreign policy through 138 subcommittees allocating funds,” Bush told reporters at the outset of an Oval Office meeting with the president of Turkey, Turgut Ozal.
Dole also proposed cutting allocations to Turkey and the four other biggest recipients of U.S. foreign aid by 5% to free $330 million to help the emerging democracies in Eastern Europe.
Asked if he would discuss that proposal with Ozal, Bush replied:
“I won’t be talking about that. I’ll be talking about my delight that somebody understands that it’s the President that ought to set these priorities and that’s why I’m very pleased about it.”
Dole’s proposal would seek to curtail the common congressional practice of “earmarking” chunks of the $14 billion in U.S. foreign aid for specific countries and projects.
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