GOP Eager To Cut Climate Aid Funding - Only Funding They Hate More Than Foreign Aid In General

[hatrack]

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The new Republican majority in the House and many members in the Senate have made cutting discretionary spending their flagship issue for the 112th Congress, a stance that doesn't bode well for international aid programs. Meanwhile, climate change fell from sitting atop the Democratic majorities' "to do" lists in the last Congress to being a target as Republicans and some Democrats offer competing proposals to halt U.S. EPA's regulation of heat-trapping carbon emissions.

"I think that Congress is after foreign aid in general, and this may be a particularly attractive area for some in Congress because they can make two points with one action," said Michael Levi, senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"Republicans will propose a cut in international climate funding -- they don't like international especially -- and they definitely don't like climate change," said Jake Schmidt, international climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "And then it will be a conversation between the House and Senate for how they reconcile what I think will be pretty significant differences."

Still, while international programs related to climate mitigation and adaptation may have lost their clout in Congress, observers who work on international climate policy point out that other countries still expect the United States to live up to commitments it has made in recent years as part of ongoing U.N. climate negotiations.

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http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/02/09/09greenwire-obamas-foreign-aid-for-climate-change-bound-fo-61622.html?partner=rss&emc=rss