Buffett donation prompts criticism of US foreign aid
Buffett donation prompts criticism of US foreign aid
By Guy Dinmore in Washington
Published: June 28 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 28 2006 03:00
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
The Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress were yesterday accused of short-changing US spending overseas at a time when philanthropists are scaling new heights in their commitment
Put in perspective, the $31bn (€25bn, £17bn) donation announced this week by Warren Buffett, the investment guru, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation exceeds annual US government spending on foreign development and humanitarian assistance, Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, pointed out yesterday.
President George W. Bush has requested $23.7bn for the entire US federal Foreign Operations budget for 2007, an increase of 15 per cent over the current year, but Congress is threatening to cut that back. The Senate appropriations committee is expected to trim spending by about $2bn when it meets tomorrow. The House has already shifted about $2bn to domestic spending.
The annual overseas development assistance component of the US federal budget could actually be overtaken by the total annual spending of the Gates Foundation. Some development analysts fear that a huge boost in funding by philanthropists will encourage some in Congress to reduce government spending even more.
Ms Albright, joined by Colin Powell, her successor until last year, and Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, the second-highest ranking US officer, was speaking at a conference hosted by the US Global Leadership Campaign, a business-NGO alliance campaigning for greater US spending abroad.
Mr Powell rebuked Congress. "This is not the place to cut. This is the place to invest," he said. "The American people would be well served by a solid investment in the foreign affairs programme."
Admiral Giambastiani, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, criticised congressmen for "earmarking" spending to please their constituencies. Ms Albright regretted that polls showed many Americans believed that 25 per cent of the budget went on foreign spending - "aid for corrupt dictators like snow ploughs to Nigeria" - when overseas spending was only about 1 per cent of the total federal budget of $2,700bn.
She suggested that foreign spending be called "national security support" to make it sound more appealing.
Ms Albright also acknow-ledged that Americans had a valid argument in callingfor more domestic and less foreign spending after catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina.
By Guy Dinmore in Washington
Published: June 28 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 28 2006 03:00
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
The Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress were yesterday accused of short-changing US spending overseas at a time when philanthropists are scaling new heights in their commitment
Put in perspective, the $31bn (€25bn, £17bn) donation announced this week by Warren Buffett, the investment guru, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation exceeds annual US government spending on foreign development and humanitarian assistance, Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, pointed out yesterday.
President George W. Bush has requested $23.7bn for the entire US federal Foreign Operations budget for 2007, an increase of 15 per cent over the current year, but Congress is threatening to cut that back. The Senate appropriations committee is expected to trim spending by about $2bn when it meets tomorrow. The House has already shifted about $2bn to domestic spending.
The annual overseas development assistance component of the US federal budget could actually be overtaken by the total annual spending of the Gates Foundation. Some development analysts fear that a huge boost in funding by philanthropists will encourage some in Congress to reduce government spending even more.
Ms Albright, joined by Colin Powell, her successor until last year, and Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, the second-highest ranking US officer, was speaking at a conference hosted by the US Global Leadership Campaign, a business-NGO alliance campaigning for greater US spending abroad.
Mr Powell rebuked Congress. "This is not the place to cut. This is the place to invest," he said. "The American people would be well served by a solid investment in the foreign affairs programme."
Admiral Giambastiani, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, criticised congressmen for "earmarking" spending to please their constituencies. Ms Albright regretted that polls showed many Americans believed that 25 per cent of the budget went on foreign spending - "aid for corrupt dictators like snow ploughs to Nigeria" - when overseas spending was only about 1 per cent of the total federal budget of $2,700bn.
She suggested that foreign spending be called "national security support" to make it sound more appealing.
Ms Albright also acknow-ledged that Americans had a valid argument in callingfor more domestic and less foreign spending after catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina.
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