Nov 19, 2019

The White House blew through a Friday deadline to justify its decision to freeze $105 million in US military aid for Lebanon to Congress, two congressional aides told Al-Monitor. The administration of President Donald Trump has not explained the controversial move to Congress in repeated meetings.

Last week, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., asked Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to provide a rationale for the hold, and whether the White House consulted the State and Defense Departments before making the decision.

Mulvaney's office did not respond to Al-Monitor’s request for comment. The failure to respond is likely to stir anger on Capitol Hill, especially from Deutch, who leads the Middle East subcommittee on the House Foreign Affairs panel and plans to use a Tuesday hearing with experts to pressure the US administration on the lack of information, a House aide said.

A State Department official said there has been no update on the hold. Another congressional committee aide said the agency had given Congress vague and unspecific assurances that the aid will be released, but has not provided a timeline. Pentagon military aid for a similar amount has continued to flow to Lebanon.

The State Department and the Pentagon have long justified foreign military financing to Lebanon that helps pay for vehicles, weapons, bulletproof vests, ammunition and air-to-ground missiles as a buffer against Lebanese Hezbollah.