House defeats Heller bid to cut foreign aid

WASHINGTON -- At 2:25 a.m. Thursday, as the House worked into the wee hours on spending and spending cuts in a budget bill for this year, Rep. Dean Heller proposed a $211 million cut in foreign aid.

When most other lawmakers returned to work later in the morning, they voted it down.

Heller, R-Nev., proposed to cut $211,244,700 from the State Department multilateral assistance account that funds programs such as the World Bank International Development Association, UNICEF, the African Development Fund, the Democracy Fund and the Strategic Climate Fund.

Heller said the cut amounted to 14.5 percent -- a number chosen to symbolize the unemployment rate in Nevada.

He said Nevadans see foreign aid as a top candidate for budget cuts, arguing that some of the programs lend money overseas at rates more beneficial than Americans can get at local banks.

"It is not our responsibility to create jobs in foreign countries," Heller said. "Our job is to create jobs right here at home and I choose America first."

Two Democratic members of the House Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee who were still on the floor at the hour, Nita Lowey of New York and Adam Schiff of California, spoke against the amendment.

"I understand it is quite easy in a time of fiscal belt tightening to offer an amendment to reduce funding for international financial institutions, but voting in favor of this amendment has serious consequences for U.S. interests," Lowey said.

Among other things, she said the Heller amendment was opposed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as businesses believe it could affect their ability to access developing markets.

The House adjourned at 3:43 a.m. and returned at 9 a.m. Shortly thereafter, it voted on more than a dozen amendments proposed overnight. The Heller amendment failed, 190-241.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.