Posted on 11/12/2011 9:45:32 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he would cut the United States' foreign aid budget to zero and then allocate taxpayer dollars depending on each country's support for America, indicating that Pakistan would no longer receive U.S. aid but Israel would.
"It's time for us as a country to say no to foreign aid to countries that don't support the United States of America," Perry said.
His idea received support from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich but, in the case of Pakistan, was opposed by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum at the CBS News/National Journal debate in Spartanburg, S.C.
Perry made his comments during a discussion on Pakistan. The American relationship with that country has become strained since the covert operation by U.S. Marines killed Osama bin Laden, who had been hiding in the country for years.
In explaining his agreement with Perry, Gingrich appeared to indicate that no thought goes into deciding how much aid each country receives.
"Consider the alternative," Gingrich said. "You're giving some country $7 billion a year. You start off-- or in the case of Egypt, $3 billion a year -- you start off every year and say here's your $3 billion, now I'll start thinking? You ought to start off at zero and say, explain to me why I should give you a penny."
Bachmann, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, depicted foreign aid for Pakistan as a national security issue.
"I would reduce foreign aid to many, many countries, but there's a problem because Pakistan has a nuclear weapon," Bachmann said. "We have more people affiliated with al Qaeda closer to that nuclear bomb than in any other nation."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
He can leave out the aid to Israel, too, as far as I’m concerned.
Cut all aid to countries that are not with us. And I would warn Israel that nothing is permament either.
Perry also said in an earlier debate NO TO THE U.N.
Why?
Because the three billion a year that we receive for not having a war with Egypt must be spent on US-made military hardware, of which we have plenty anyway. Because we shouldn’t be for sale at any price, let alone three billion. Our friendship stems from the fact that we are friends, not because we have our hands out and you have rapidly devaluing dollars to give. Because the US is having enough fiscal woes without our adding to them, even by three billion. Because we’re about to go to war with Egypt anyway, subsidy or no. Because these perks are being used as levers to tie our hands with regard to our own defense, and that didn’t start with Obama, either. Because we really don’t need the money.
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