Several senators, including Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Dick Lugar (R-IN), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Appropriations Ranking Member Judd Gregg (R-NH) in support of President Obama’s proposed $6.1 billion increase in the foreign operations budget, calling it “an essential component of our national security,” CQ Today reported. Obama’s $58.5 billion request is receiving bipartisan support in the Senate and “more than 110 Democratic House members…signed letters calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and John M. Spratt, Jr. (D-SC), House Budget chairman, to support the president’s foreign operations request.”

The article also reports on a USAID hearing held by the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. In his opening statement, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) noted “that there are growing questions coming from both sides of the aisle about whether the agency as it currently exists should be ended.” USAID is requesting a $21 billion increase, leading to criticism for their “lack of focus” and poor job “setting priorities.” Despite these criticisms, Leahy acknowledged that USAID’s administrator, Rajiv J. Shah, “can right the oft-criticized agency” and that Leahy would not advocate “pulling the plug on USAID any time soon.”
 

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