Funding to be cut for West Virginia, Africa
That’s a headline you don’t see every day, but then again, there’s no lack of irony in the way Democratics are handling their new budget power on Capital Hill. Is the incoming Senate appropriations czar, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, really vowing to do away with earmarks? Give me a break. In the last 15 ...
That's a headline you don't see every day, but then again, there's no lack of irony in the way Democratics are handling their new budget power on Capital Hill. Is the incoming Senate appropriations czar, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, really vowing to do away with earmarks? Give me a break. In the last 15 years, a fraction of his 47-year Senate career, Byrd has secured some $3 billion in earmarks for his home state. They don't call him the "king of pork" because he likes ham sandwiches.
Unless something changes, bridges and research labs in West Virginia won’t be the
Rocker-activist Bono was on the Hill last week trying to get assurances from soon-to-be- Majority Leader Harry Reid that the funding would stay in place regardless of how the silly politics of budgeting plays out. Apparently, the meeting did not go so well. Bono had this to say:
I’m alarmed we could not get a commitment from the Democratic leadership to prevent the loss of $1 billion in the continuing resolution to fight AIDS, malaria and extreme poverty…. I don’t know who’s to blame. Democrats are blaming Republicans, Republicans are blaming Democrats. But the million people who were expecting bed nets don’t care who’s to blame. They just know that a promise made by the United States to keep their families safe is in danger of being broken next year.
One of the few positive foreign policy legacies of the Bush Administration will be its committment of tens of billions of dollars to the global fight against AIDS and poverty. It’s a sad comment on the state of Congress that, under the leadership of the “liberal” democrats, this funding could fall victim to petty politics.
More from Foreign Policy

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak
Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage
The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine
The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

The Masterminds
Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.