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January 04, 2005

Tsunami Relief to Cut Funds for Other Poor Countries

Guess what? That $350 million for Tsunami relief is not going to be new money in the budget, but is going to be subtracted from other aid programs.

So the help for southeast asia will come at the expense of aid to the rest of the world. As Chad Kolton of the OMB stated:

"We have the resources in hand, and that's where the money is coming from. It's not a matter of ginning up new aid - the federal government actually budgets for disasters.". . .

The administration plans to rely largely on money in the international disaster and famine assistance program at the United States Agency of International Development, according to Mr. Kolton.

That program's budget is $384.9 million for the fiscal year of 2005. The initial $350 million for the tsunami disaster would nearly eliminate funds available for any disaster later in the year.

Given that Bush announced just weeks ago that the Bush administration said they were so strapped for development aid that they were cutting off over a $100 million in aid to international charities, it is just evil that the administration is refusing to allocate new funds for the relief effort.

Posted by Nathan at January 4, 2005 05:46 AM