Congress set to slash Africa aid

OH THE IRONY!!!!!!!!!

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AS US President George W Bush proclaims his commitment to Africa during this week's five-day trip, his Republicans in Congress are planning on cutting back the money allocated to his much-vaunted plans to tackle HIV/Aids and encourage development.


The White House says Bush is underlining his commitment to Africa
At the heart of the president's new focus on Africa are two initiatives for which the administration has promised a significant increase in funding.

Mr Bush has pledged $15bn to fight HIV/Aids, primarily in Africa, over the next five years, and an additional $10bn in additional foreign aid over the next three years in a new Millennium Challenge Account.

But the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee - which determines how much money will actually be spent in next year's budget - looks set to cut back that request when it meets on Thursday...

Jamie Drummond, executive director of Data, a pressure group set up to campaign for debt relief and African aid, said that the two new programmes together could represent a massive change in America's commitment to Africa, increasing US aid spending to that region from $1bn now to $5bn in 2006.

But he warned that the trip "was set up in quite a dramatic way to see if the president will see through on his promises".

Mr Drummond said it would be ironic that, while Mr Bush was in Africa, "the House foreign operations subcommittee was actually deciding to slash those promises, to break them if you like".

And he warned that there should be no cutbacks in other programmes to fund these new initiatives, nor restrictions on contributions from other nations.

Aid experts say that it may be difficult for many African countries to meet the strict conditions that the US has set for receiving funds from the new Millennium Challenge Account, which requires nations to adhere to strict standards of openness and democracy...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3055924.stm

Bush will get all the good PR of his false promises and then the public will be barely aware that there was no substance to them. The greed and lack of compassion of these pigs is unfathomable.

...sounds like:

No Child Left Behind
Homeland Security
It's YOUR Money
Compassionate Conservative
Corporate Responsibility
Honesty & Integrity
War is Peace

... ... ...
and on, and on, and on...
until they are jailed or exiled...

.

missed that ....

:(

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Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator