The Politics of the Absurd: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) Proposes to Wield her Mighty Rhetorical Sword
On Wednesday July 20, 2011, the Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) initiated its markup of pending House bill H.R. 2583 to authorize appropriations for the Department of State for the 2012 fiscal year. The stir created earlier, which was prompted by the controversial features of the measure, was introduced by the committee’s chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) on July 11, 2011, and made it into the ‘hottest topic’ on the House’s website. The bill has proposed the restriction of funding for U.S. aid commitments to Palestine, Lebanon, and Pakistan, as well as to several international organizations, amongst them, the Organization of American States (OAS). Section 102 of Ros-Lehtinen’s bill states that USD 1.5 billion is to be allocated to contributions to international organizations. An hour-long debate over the pending legislation on Wednesday resulted in a resolution to withdraw the entire USD 48.5 million annual U.S. contribution to the regional organization, a mere three percent of the total that would have been allocated to international organizations.
This analysis was prepared by COHA Staff.
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