Lack of U.S. Aid Indefensible
Crossposted at Dark Days Ahead...
This is what the U.S. government's spending priorities are:
$15,000,000 allocated for tsunami victims initially (1)
$35,000,000 allocated after criticism that U.S. is stingy (2)
[Update 2]$350,000,000 allocated after further criticism that U.S. is stingy (3)
$1,000,000,000+ expected total aid for tsunami victims, according to Administration (4)
$5,000,000,000 aid requested by Bush FY 2005 for foreign militaries to receive U.S. weapons and equipment 2005 (5)
$19,000,000,000 expected total foreign aid approved by Congress FY 2005 (6)
$152,600,000,000 legislatively allocated so far for Iraq War (7)
$402,000,000,000 requested military budget by Bush administration FY 2005 (5)
$452,000,000,000 anticipated total military requests by Bush administration FY 2005 (5)
Sources:
(1) Times of India, 12/28/2004
(2) Xinhua, 12/29/2004
(3) Channel News Asia, 12/31/04
(4) CBS News, 12/29/2004
(5) Foreign Policy in Focus
(6) Catholic Relief Services
(7) This doesn't include the additional $50,000,000,000 per year beyond 2004 that the Iraq War will cost the U.S. if it maintains troops there. National Priorities Project [pdf]
Update 1:
"Several European countries far outdistanced the United States in pledges. They include Britain, $95 million; Sweden, $75.5 million; Spain, $68 million and France, $57 million"
Granted, they were more directly affected, but even so...
<< Home