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 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

only victims of the democrats impending reign. Also at risk is the $1 billion in planned 2007 federal funding for the fight against global poverty, AIDS, and malaria.

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.