WASHINGTON - US Republicans moved Wednesday to cut aid to several of
Israel's neighbors and to tighten control of assistance to Pakistan,
vowing to get tough on Islamic militants and tame US spending.
The
Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee pushed a range of issues
in a spending bill for the fiscal year starting in October, including
cutting US contributions to the United Nations and restricting funding
for abortion.
But to come into force, Republican lawmakers will
need to reach a compromise with the Senate where President Barack
Obama's Democratic Party retains control and is mostly supportive of
the administration's international engagements.
The House
spending bill would end decades of US security aid to Egypt, where
protests swept out President Hosni Mubarak in February, unless the new
leaders fully implement a peace treaty with Israel and exclude the
Muslim Brotherhood.
The Republicans would also cut off security
assistance to Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Yemen if Islamic
militant movements such as Hezbollah and Hamas hold any position in
government.
"Our goal is to promote democratic governments in
these countries and ensure that US taxpayers are not subsidizing groups
that seek to undermine US policies, interests and allies," said
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chairwoman of the
House committee.
The bill would also force the United States to
move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Like most countries that
recognize Israel, the United States maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv
as it waits for a settlement on hotly contested Jerusalem.
Congress,
where Israel enjoys strong support, in 1995 required the United States
to move the embassy to Jerusalem but three presidents have deferred the
shift. Under the House bill, the president would lose the waiver right
in 2014.
Ros-Lehtinen said the Republican bill on foreign affairs
would cut $6.4 billion from Obama's requests, in a step toward
controlling the ballooning US debt.
The bill would impose
tighter controls on assistance to Pakistan in light of the US raid that
killed Osama bin Laden and persistent questions about the country's
military and intelligence.
The Obama administration recently
suspended about one-third of its $2.7 billion annual defense aid to
Pakistan. But it has assured Pakistan it is committed to a five-year,
$7.5 billion civilian package approved in 2009 that aims to build
schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions.
The
Republican bill would also make the civilian aid contingent on
measurable progress by Pakistan in fighting Islamic militants.
"The
language in this bill puts that government on notice that it is no
longer business as usual and that they will be held to account if they
continue to refuse to cooperate," Ros-Lehtinen said.
Representative
Howard Berman, the top Democrat on the committee and a main author of
the 2009 bill, said he agreed on the need to "get tough with Pakistan"
but disagreed on restrictions over civilian aid.
"The key to
long-term stability in Pakistan, and the only way we'll ever get
Pakistan to change its behavior, is by strengthening its civilian
institutions -- not weakening them as this bill will do," Berman said.
At
the start of a sometimes confrontational meeting, the committee voted
almost along party lines to cut the $44 million in US funding for the
Organization of American States, a regional bloc of 35 countries.
"Every
time we turn around, the OAS, instead of supporting democracies is
supporting and coddling, if you will, the likes of Hugo Chavez," said
Republican Representative Connie Mack, referring to Venezuela's
president.
Democrats sharply criticized Mack. Representative Gary
Ackerman said that the United States would effectively be pulling out
in its own continent in a global competition with China for "hearts and
minds."
"At the proper time, I might just offer an amendment to
pull out of the world and put all this money into digging a moat around
the United States and putting a big dome over the thing," Ackerman said
sarcastically. AFP
