Senators blast insane Trump plan for aid cuts, seek Venezuela plan

Republican and Democratic U.S. senators blasted President Donald Trump’s proposal for a 23 percent cut in the U.S. budget for foreign aid and diplomacy as “insane” and “short-sighted” on Tuesday, and said it would not pass.

“We’re not going to approve this budget reduction. It’s insane. It makes no sense,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the State Department and foreign aid budget.

“I don’t know who writes these things over in the White House, but they clearly don’t understand the value of soft power,” the Republican senator, a close Trump ally on many issues, told a subcommittee hearing on the foreign aid budget.

Graham also called the plan “short-sighted” and said the Appropriations panel would restore funding to previous levels, rather than enacting the 23 percent cut Trump proposed earlier this year. Read more

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