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Zimbabwe receives $150 million in U.S. aid funding annually to combat food insecurity and support climate resilience programs for 2.1 million people. A narrow dirt road snakes along the banks of a small river and leads to the remote village of Birirano. Marked by baobab trees and drought-tolerent shrubs, this small community is sandwiched between desolate mountains in Zimbabwe’s eastern district of Chipinge. Far from the main highway, it is largely cut off from the rest of the country and the world. With limited livelihood possibilities, villagers here have long been locked in an unending cycle of poverty. Over the...

The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have failed to adequately track the more than $30 billion they spend annually on foreign aid, according to a government watchdog report released Friday. The report released by the State Department's Office of the Inspector General noted that the department has failed to build infrastructure for tracking billions of dollars in foreign aid despite being ordered to do so in 2015. "Because the Department had made such limited progress in building the capacity to centrally track foreign assistance data, [the Office of Inspector General] strengthened and reissued the recommendation...

President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing an executive order that will require all U.S. food aid to be transported on American ships, according to four sources with knowledge of the deliberations. Currently, 50 percent of such aid must be transported on U.S.-flagged vessels. The sources said Trump is considering going as far as doubling that to 100 percent, a move likely to stir opposition from both Republicans and Democrats.

Two US lawmakers ask Trump admin to cut Pakistan aid for supporting terror In this May 25, 2017 file photo, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats Subcommittee hearing. | Photo Credit: Reuters Two top lawmakers have accused Pakistan of supporting terrorism and urged the Trump administration to cut military aid to the country, saying the US should make it more difficult for Islamabad to get its hands on American weapons. During a Congressional hearing this week, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Ted Poe, alleged that Pakistan is engaged in terrorism and asserted...

The U.S. government has suspended $21 million in direct aid to Kenya's Ministry of Health amid concern over corruption, the embassy said on Tuesday, giving emphasis to an issue that is a growing liability for the government before August elections. Support for HIV drugs and other health programs outside the ministry would continue, the embassy said, adding that the United States invests more than $650 million on health in Kenya annually. Last year, Kenya's anti-graft chief told Reuters that a third of its state budget - the equivalent of about $6 billion - was lost to corruption every year. The...

TEL AVIV – The Trump administration is gearing up for major cuts in U.S. foreign aid across the world with the notable exception of the Palestinian territories, which will receive increased funding, State Department documents obtained by Foreign Policy magazine show. The documents, part of an internal budget proposal for 2018, seem to confirm the State Department and USAID’s 28 percent budget cut announced in March. While many countries will suffer from major cutbacks or else have aid cancelled entirely, funds to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will see an increase of 4.6 percent for the 2018 fiscal...

Those who are undermining and interfering in the function of a lawful government can and must be charged and prosecuted for treason and sedition. What are we waiting for? WASHINGTON, D.C.—Saturday April Fools’ Day, the official holiday for atheists. This is verified by The Bible which states: “The Fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Psalm 14:1. So this day is for them. However, what you are about to read is NOT an April Fool’s Day Joke, as unbelievable as it is, even though we were the fools for going along with it. The United Nations is...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-school-meals-programme-feed-40-million-children-world-poorest-places-mcgovern-dole-food-a7641101.html

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday shot down prospects for major parts of President Donald Trump’s budget, rejecting proposed cuts to foreign aid and medical research. “Every president sends up a budget, and with all due respect to the current president, I can’t recall any time in which we have been sort of dictated to by either a Republican or a Democratic president,” McConnell said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We’ll put our own imprint on it, particularly with regard to overseas.” […] “America being a force is a lot more than building up the Defense Department,”...

Approximately 30 countries are refusing to accept the deportations of illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes in the U.S., according to Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar. While these countries are refusing to accept the deportations of these criminals, the U.S. government is still issuing visas and student visas to citizens of those countries, according to the Texan congressman. There is already a law on the books which allows the U.S. to hold visas from a country that is not taking back its criminals, but according to Cuellar, the U.S. is not enforcing it. “We’re not enforcing it, which is amazing....

Complete Headline: Trump wants $1.5 BILLION for the wall and cash for the military but will slash foreign aid and eliminate funding for PBS and NPR in budget designed to infuriate liberals Trump will release a budget blueprint today that makes cuts to discretionary spending to fund his border wall and the military build-up he's been promising State Department is cut deepest with a 28% reduction to its foreign aid division The Environmental Protection Agency and the Housing and Urban Development Department are also expected to suffer The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides support to NPR and PBS, will...

Halfway there.... It’s not a gigantic line item in the federal budget, but don’t get caught up in the Washington way of thinking: A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money! It’s $10 billion. That’s lots and lots and lots of real money. And while cutting half of it might only be a blip on the radar screen as far as the overall federal budget is concerned, it’s would represent around 10 percent of the UN’s budget if Trump and Tillerson really do eliminate it.

President Trump’s administration has told the State Department to cut more than 50 percent of U.S. funding to United Nations programs, Foreign Policy reported. The push for the drastic reductions comes as the White House is scheduled to release its 2018 topline budget proposal Thursday, which is expected to include a 37 percent cut to the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development budgets. It's not clear if Trump's budget plan, from the Office of Management and Budget, would reflect the full extent of Trump's proposed cuts to the U.N. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has suggested phasing in...

State Department staffers have been instructed to seek cuts in excess of 50 percent in U.S. funding for U.N. programs, signaling an unprecedented retreat by President Donald Trump’s administration from international operations that keep the peace, provide vaccines for children, monitor rogue nuclear weapons programs, and promote peace talks from Syria to Yemen, according to three sources. The push for such draconian measures comes as the White House is scheduled on Thursday to release its 2018 budget proposal, which is expected to include cuts of up to 37 percent for spending on the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International...

Today I was having a friendly argument with a friend. He was upset that many people are getting excited that under the USA Trump will have NASA return us to the Moon and build a moonbase. His argument was that was too costly. That the money would be better served helping poor people, building hospitals and schools, and fixing the deteriorating American infrastructure. He just could not listen to reason. Nasa budget is $14 Billion. The budget for HUD is many hundreds of times larger than that. In fact, Obama routinely gave away amounts approaching the NASA budget on mere...

The White House budget director confirmed Saturday that the Trump administration will propose “fairly dramatic reductions” in the U.S. foreign aid budget later this month. Reuters and other news outlets reported earlier this week that the administration plans to propose to Congress cuts in the budgets for the U.S. State Department and Agency for International Development by about one third. “We are going to propose to reduce foreign aid and we are going to propose to spend that money here,” White House Office of Management Budget director Mick Mulvaney told Fox News on Saturday, adding the proposed cuts would include...

Bread for the World warned that the current FY 2018 budget outline drafted by President Donald J. Trump would worsen hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad. The cuts to domestic social safety net programs and foreign aid are aimed to boost the Pentagon’s budget by 10 percent. “President Trump is proposing slashing programs that help hungry and poor people,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “These programs include nutrition assistance in the U.S. and aid to poor and hungry people around the world. This comes when 20 million people are at risk of famine...

Besides the stunning political upsets of 2016, the U.S and the U.K have something else in common: a foreign aid budget that is unpopular, unhelpful and doesn’t actually do much good for anyone. With billions of dollars being used as “soft diplomacy” (bribes) to both friendly and unfriendly nations, the aid budget has taken the place of proper foreign policy and real diplomatic measures. Should you choose to type “US foreign aid budget” into Google, your top two responses will be articles by the Washington Post and NPR, delightfully telling you how racist and ignorant people are when questioned on...

Sooooo, food for thought. Higher estimates of the wall are 38 billion. Current US foreign aid is about 37 million annually. Mexico has about 500 million in US foreign aid out of that 37 million. How about we take all of north and south america's US foreign aid and apply it to the wall budget. We can tell all of those countries: "Hey dudes, sorry, but Mexico ruined the Foreign Aid gravy train for you. If you can convince Mexico to pay for the wall, we can turn the free money back on." Maybe even include countries that Mexico trades...

The United Nations on Monday launched an appeal for $547 million (€524 million) to help 1.6 million people in the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2017, AFP reports. The response covers 1.1 million residents of Gaza, and half a million people in PA-assigned of Judea and Samaria. “Needs in Gaza remain particularly acute and humanitarian services provided by the international community remain a lifeline,” said Robert Piper, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, in a letter accompanying the launch and quoted by AFP. The appeal was down from $571 million the year before, of which about 47 percent, or $267...