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| U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry |
John Kerry visited the U.S. Agency for International
Development today for the first time since assuming the post of
secretary of state – and as expected, he came out swinging against looming aid
cuts.
Kerry greeted USAID Administrator
Rajiv Shah and staff members at 10 a.m. in the Atrium Hall of the Ronald Reagan
Building in downtown Washington.
President Barack Obama, in his
State of the Union address earlier this week, “challenged all of us” to end
extreme poverty and, Kerry said,
“we will” do it. He also warned against looming budget cuts, noting
that U.S. aid showcases American values.
Earlier this week, Kerry urged
Congress to avoid government-wide cuts that would take effect in early March
unless lawmakers strike a deficit reduction deal. In a letter to
Senate appropriators, he said “cuts of this magnitude would severely
impair our ability to ensure America’s leadership in global affairs, build relationships
with host governments and promote peaceful democracies.”
Sequestration could result in the
following cuts, according to Kerry:
- $200 million to humanitarian assistance.
- $400 million to global health.
- $70 million to food aid.
Kerry told lawmakers: “Cuts would
eliminate resources needed to fight disease and hunger, invest in global
health, provide humanitarian assistance and reduce the threats of climate
change.”
Sequestration, he said, would
“reduce USAID’s operating budget by nearly $70 million, reversing the progress
made to better equip the agency to achieve the administration’s objectives in
an accountable, transparent manner.”
While Kerry has remained
relatively quite lately on development cooperation, he has over the years been
a vocal supporter of a robust foreign aid budget, and he has more recently
vowed to advance reforms begun under his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, and also
continue her focus on global health, food security, governance and gender
issues. He also is expected to elevate climate change at the State Department
and beyond.
How he is going to manage these
and many other priorities remains to be seen. In the two weeks he’s been in
office, Kerry has begun to flex his political muscle by starting to negotiate
with Congress the release of about $700 million in aid for the Palestinian
Authority.
Speaking on his behalf, State
Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “I will simply say that
he has raised this in every conversation that he’s had with colleagues. He has
been active.”
When he was still a senator, he
was instrumental in authorizing $1.5 billion in non-military assistance to
Pakistan between 2010 and 2014. In 2010, when monsoon rains flooded Pakistan, USAID,
through this law, provided $550 million for relief and recovery.
Kerry, the former Senate Foreign
Relations Committee chairman, and Shah, the USAID chief, have known each other
for years. Three years ago, Shah relayed
an anecdote on Haiti:
“Even since the earthquake hit,
Sen. Kerry has called personally several times with ideas and with, really, an
expectation that we push ourselves to think bigger, think more creatively about
what we could do if we coordinate better, if we come together as a community
and if we leverage all of the assets in the federal family to really address
some of the challenges we face like rebuilding the port or reopening the
airport,” he said.
Shah noted, “I think this direct
engagement demonstrates not only his willingness to participate in these issues
but his commitment to offer real leadership.”
Kerry hit a similar vein today as
he met his colleagues at USAID.
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