White House proposes to slash State Department, foreign aid budget

The White House revealed its budget proposal for fiscal year 2021 on Monday, planning considerable slash in the State Department and foreign aid from the previous year's appropriations, a move that is likely to be rejected by Congress.

The State Department announced on Monday that President Donald Trump's FY 2021 budget requests nearly 41 billion U.S. dollars for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which the U.S. media said was an over 20 percent cut from the previous year's enacted appropriations.

White House budget reflects the Trump administration's priorities in spending negotiations for the FY 2021, which runs from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. The proposal is unlikely to become law, however, as Democratic lawmakers have already voiced opposition to the plan.

"Proposing such reckless cuts to our critical foreign policy tools isn't a serious proposal. If this draconian budget were enacted, it would weaken our security and leadership around the world," said Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, in a statement released on Monday.

"Congress will again reject this proposal in a resounding bipartisan fashion," the senior Democratic lawmaker added.

In the past three years, Congress has enacted significantly more funding for the State Department and foreign aid than the amount requested by the Trump administration.

(CGTN)