The new head of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid has a sanguine prediction about what a push by other Republicans to cut federal spending might mean for State-Foreign Operations funding levels next fiscal year.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has said he wants to see fiscal 2024 spending reduced to fiscal 2022 levels but has been vague on how to accomplish that goal. National security hawks, including members of his own party, have already said they would reject any proposed cuts to the military’s budget.
That dynamic has made foreign aid advocates nervous that far-right Republicans will renew calls made during the Trump administration to pass deep cuts to foreign aid spending, which despite popular belief among some conservatives, only amounts to less than 1 percent of federal spending.
