Congress Disposes on Afghan Aid
Friday, August 3, 2012 at 12:20PM | Nicholas J. Espinoza Last month at the Tokyo conference, donors pledged $16 billion in aid to Afghanistan over the next four years. For our part, Secretary Clinton stated that:
The United States will request from our Congress assistance for Afghanistan at or near the levels of the past decade through the year 2017.
;)
Those words are very carefully chosen to acknowledge the axiom that “the President proposes, but Congress disposes.” And it’s a good thing. The chart reviews just a small selection of assistance programs benefiting Afghanistan, each of which recently has been trimmed from the President’s request by defense appropriations bills that cleared the full House in mid-July and Senate committee yesterday.
These appropriations decisions are likely to be supplanted by a 6-month continuing resolution agreed to in principle by House Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Reid on Tuesday. That decision would keep this funding on the same near-term trajectory, yet Clinton still is correct to distinguish administration policy from congressional appropriations commitments. While Congress may be some time away from passing full FY2013 appropriations, it’s already shown a willingness to exercise its own discretion on Afghan aid.