As the House Appropriations Committee considers substantial cuts to the International Affairs Budget for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), recently tapped to serve as Ranking Member of the State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Senate Appropriations, spoke to CNN’s John King about why the U.S. should continue to invest in smart power tools. Yesterday, Senator Graham said “So I would say to all of my colleagues, let’s slow down, take a deep breath.  The foreign operation budget is less than 1 percent of total federal spending.”  He also spoke of how critical the International Affairs Budget is to our national security:  “Ask General Petraeus, General Austin, Admiral Mullen about the value of the civilian military partnership, U.S. AID, State Department, the Department of Justice, the Department of Agriculture.  They’re part of the fight in Afghanistan.  And these civilian programs that will allow us to hold and build in Afghanistan and Iraq are, I think, national security programs that need to be protected like national security spending . . . getting out of the foreign operations assistance to our friends business only buys trouble.  It’s a penny wise and a pound foolish, in my view.” To read the full transcript of Senator Graham’s interview with CNN, please click here.

Must Reads

Who’s In the News

IREX President Thanks Bill Gates (W. Robert Pearson, IREX)

Last Wednesday evening I had the opportunity to personally thank Bill Gates for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation support for the Global Libraries programs that IREX implements in Romania and Ukraine. The programs aim to improve people’s lives in these two important modernizing societies. They dramatically increase public access to information–equipping public libraries with computers, training librarians, and strengthening the voice of the library sector.

Sen. Graham CNN (John King Interview, CNN)

Sen. Lindsey Graham gave an interview to CNN where he said “Ask General Petraeus, General Austin, Admiral Mullen about the value of the civilian military partnership, U.S. AID, State Department, the Department of Justice, the Department of Agriculture.  They’re part of the fight in Afghanistan.  And these civilian programs that will allow us to hold and build in Afghanistan and Iraq are, I think, national security programs that need to be protected like national security spending.”

Smart Power

Foreign aid on the chopping block (John Feehery, The Hill)

According to a Gallup poll released right before the president’s State of the Union address, a majority of Americans said they favor cutting U.S. foreign aid, but more than six in 10 opposed cuts to education, Social Security and Medicare. That is not that surprising. Nobody wants his or her Social Security touched. Let’s cut spending on all those foreigners.

Interactive Map: Foreign Aid Analysis Made Easy (John Norris, Center for American Progress)

U.S. foreign aid is in the headlines now as almost never before, with massive political upheaval in Egypt, calls by House Republicans to dramatically slash funding for development programs, and a major overhaul of our aid programs announced by the Obama administration last year. The new interactive tool below is designed to accompany our latest report on foreign aid, “U.S. Foreign Aid Reform Meets the Tea Party,” by John Norris, the Executive Director of the Sustainable Security Program here at CAP.

Does the public care about development? (Owen Barder, Blog)

Development advocates have to make the case for aid and development policy. They are right to say that development is in the national interest of the donor, but it may be a mistake to put this at the centre of the argument. Most people don’t need to be convinced that development is desirable; they need to be convinced that aid works.

Politics/Foreign Policy

What Egypt tells us that development discourse doesn’t (Lisa Denney, Overseas Development Institute)

Events in the Middle East and North Africa challenge recent development discourse in two important ways. Prevailing wisdom in relation to governance tells us: that change is never immediate, but rather achieved through incremental, long-term reforms; and, increasingly, that we need to accept the realities of political systems and work with them, including when this involves ‘big men’.

Contrary to venerable policy journals, the window for democracy in Egypt may just be opening (David Ropthkopf, FP)

Foreign Affairs is currently running an article called “Egypt’s Democratic Mirage” which begins with the following statement: “Despite the tenacity, optimism, and blood of the protesters massed in Tahrir Square, Egypt’s democratic window has probably already closed.” The piece, by a professor named Joshua Stacher, then goes on to explain how the Cairo regime has maneuvered in ways likely to ensure its survival and the disappointment of the hopes of Egypt’s protesters.

Security, Oversight Issues Hamper US Civilian Work in Pakistan, Report Says (Ma. Leonzon, DEVEX)

The U.S. government’s civilian-led strategy in Pakistan is facing challenges in program monitoring, aid worker security and curtailing fraud, a report by inspectors general for the U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of State and Department of Defense finds. The report examines the progress and oversight of the U.S. civilian assistance program in Pakistan from Oct. 1, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2010.