Politicians 'Insulted' by Foreign Aid to China - US News and World Report
House lawmakers on Tuesday turned anti-Chinese sentiments against the federal agency responsible for allocating $4 million in U.S. funds for environmental initiatives in China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt.
Despite the relatively small amount of money going to China in aid this year, Republicans and Democrats bashed the programs during a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Asia and Pacific panel, calling them a "giant mistake of thinking" by the State Department and "an insult" to taxpayers in America.
State's foreign aid programs have been in the crosshairs recently among lawmakers and presidential hopefuls, especially given the nation's $14 trillion government debt. Republican frontrunner former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been targeting China in particular as an example of misguided taxpayer funding.
Aid to China,what jokers we have in Wash......
"This galls me: We give 10 million dollars in foreign aid a year to China," Romney said during a speech earlier this month. "Its not that they're bad people, but the idea that a nation that is as large and robust and economically viable as theirs is getting money from us just makes no sense at all." [Read how foreign policy is a matter of rhetoric versus reality in presidential campaigns.]
House lawmakers on Tuesday turned anti-Chinese sentiments against the federal agency responsible for allocating $4 million in U.S. funds for environmental initiatives in China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt.
Despite the relatively small amount of money going to China in aid this year, Republicans and Democrats bashed the programs during a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Asia and Pacific panel, calling them a "giant mistake of thinking" by the State Department and "an insult" to taxpayers in America.
State's foreign aid programs have been in the crosshairs recently among lawmakers and presidential hopefuls, especially given the nation's $14 trillion government debt. Republican frontrunner former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been targeting China in particular as an example of misguided taxpayer funding.
Aid to China,what jokers we have in Wash......
"This galls me: We give 10 million dollars in foreign aid a year to China," Romney said during a speech earlier this month. "Its not that they're bad people, but the idea that a nation that is as large and robust and economically viable as theirs is getting money from us just makes no sense at all." [Read how foreign policy is a matter of rhetoric versus reality in presidential campaigns.]