Ros-Lehtinen: My Mission is to Cut the State and Foreign Aid Budgets

Last week, Foreign Policy reported that the incoming chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), released a statement laying out her agenda for HFAC during the 112th Congress. Her priorities include: using U.S. contributions to international organizations as leverage to force reform at the United Nations; advocating for stronger action against “rogue states”; and identifying and proposing “a number of cuts to the State Department and Foreign Aid budgets.” HFAC doesn’t actually fund foreign aid, the incoming chairwoman of the subcomittee that does (the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee), Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), has also criticized increases for the State Department and foreign development aid.