US: Trump to slash one third of State Dept. budget

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

The State Department will lose nearly a third of its financing under President Donald Trump's "budget blueprint" announced Thursday, his budget director said.

"You have an America first candidate. You have an America first budget,” Mick Mulvaney told reporters, referring to his boss' campaign.

The State Department, like all departments who are going to be facing funding reductions under the budget outline, will have to decide how best to implement the cuts.

But the biggest blows will affect the department's foreign aid programs, said Mulvaney, stressing that the administration believes "we have protected the core diplomatic functions" of the State Department.

He announced Thursday the United Nations would face cuts.

“We're absolutely reducing funding to the UN and to the various foreign aid programs, including those run by the UN and other agencies. That should come as a surprise to no one who watched the campaign,” he said.

President Trump has criticized the global body as “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time”.

UN Secretary-General is committed to reforming the global body, his office said in a statement Thursday.

“However, abrupt funding cuts can force the adoption of ad hoc measures that will undermine the impact of longer-term reform efforts,” it added.

Trump was furious after the previous administration last December avoided vetoing a Security Council resolution critical of Israeli settlements, which passed as a result.

Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed that U.S. assistance to Israel will be unaffected by the deep cuts, noting that it is the only country to have such standing.

“That reflects obviously, our strong commitment to one of our strongest partners and allies,” Toner said. ​

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce voiced concerns about the State Department budget cuts, saying they "will hurt efforts to combat terrorism, distribute critical humanitarian aid, and promote opportunities for American workers”.

In his statement late Wednesday, Mulvaney insisted that the "fairly dramatic reduction" of 28 percent to the department's funding "is not a commentary on the president’s policies towards the State Department.

"The foreign aid line items, many of them, just happen to fall within the State Department functions,” he said.

The cuts to the State Department and other affected agencies will be used to fund a $54 billion increase in defense spending, and separate lesser bumps to border security, law enforcement and bolstering what the administration calls school choice.

"Since the president wanted to do that without adding to the already projected $480 billion deficit in fiscal year 2018 there were reductions elsewhere to off-set dollar for dollar all of those increases,” Mulvaney said.

Still, the budget outline will not be balanced; it will simply avoid adding any to the deficit while rebalancing to military, or "hard power".

“There’s no question this is a hard power budget. It is not a soft power budget," said Mulvaney. "And that was done intentionally. The president very clearly wants to send a message to our allies and our potential adversaries that this is a strong power administration.

“So, you’ve seen money move from soft power programs, such as foreign aid, into more hard power programs. That’s what our allies can expect,” he added.