Los Angeles Magazine’s Post

What do North Carolinians think about the various foreign aid bills Washington is working on? Very exciting votes on and reactions to the various foreign aid bills in the U.S. House of Representatives today (4/20/2024). First some context from the #hpupoll. We have asked many times about how important people in NC think it is for DC to deal with particular issues. The attached table shows what we often observe: specific foreign policy issues are not seen as the most important by the public. Notice that "national security" is very important for more than 2/3 of North Carolinians (70%). But the conflicts between Ukraine & Russia and Israel & Hamas are only seen as "very important" by about a third of the people we polled. You can find a lot about #foreignpolicy in #ncpol starting on page 13 of our memo (with methods on the first page): https://lnkd.in/dYhXUhpz and I have replied to this message with some more information worth considering. Stay well, everyone.

#FPReels: Trump Administration Freezes Ukraine Aid, Spares Israel Donald Trump's administration has frozen nearly all foreign aid worldwide. The US State Department suspended assistance to the war-torn Ukraine amidst its war with Russia. The change in aid policy is aligned with Trump’s bid to end the Ukraine-Russia war. Ukraine received weapons worth billions of dollars under the Joe Biden administration. Trump administration has continued its military and food aid to Israel and Egypt. The US’ major arms package to Israel aided its war with Hamas in Gaza. Exceptions have also been made for emergency food assistance to Sudan and Syria while aid to Taiwan has been paused. Funding for anti-HIV/AIDS initiatives in developing nations, especially African countries, is also on halt. Changes in the US assistance policy followed Trump’s January 20 executive order that halts foreign aid for 90 days. Trump administration will review and align the assistance with its foreign policy. https://lnkd.in/e2htUXZE

Why is this Administrations sending US taxpayers dollars to our enemies? Syria 🇸🇾 $896B. They are trying to kill our Service members in Iraq, and Syria, Assad helps Hezbollah and is an open ally of Iran. Yet we can only give $750 or less to hurting North Carolinas who lost everything? This is ludicrous. Our government needs to be America 1st before we send Billions out to other countries...and nothing should be given to our NDS, NSS, NMS identified priority threats who support terrorism. The DOS/USAID is broke...this needs to stop. Administrator Samantha Power USAID needs to be fired...with her upper boss DoS Director Antony J. Blinken, who authorizes all this. M2 In 2023, the United States spent nearly $61 billion on foreign aid. Fully half of that budget has gone to just ten countries: Ukraine ($16.4 billion) Israel ($3.3 billion) Ethiopia ($1.95 billion) Jordan ($1.65 billion) Egypt ($1.43 billion) Afghanistan ($1.19 billion) Somalia ($1.13 billion) Yemen ($1.05 billion) Congo ($987 million) Syria ($896 million) https://lnkd.in/dMX99YZ7)

Do you receive funding through USAID or the US State Department? The Trump administration has issued a Stop-Work Order. This directive effectively puts an immediate sweeping freeze on US foreign aid worldwide. More information, including steps you should consider, can be found here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eWuFXC_W Naziar Hashemi

The US House has passed a $95 billion foreign aid package, including $61 billion for Ukraine to bolster its defense against Russia. This historic bipartisan vote, spearheaded by Speaker Mike Johnson, also allocates aid to Israel and Taiwan. The aid bill faced opposition from within Johnson's party but ultimately passed. The Senate is expected to follow suit next week. Additionally, the House approved an $8 billion aid package for Taiwan and a bill targeting TikTok's Chinese parent company. This aid marks a significant shift in US foreign policy, emphasizing support for allies against rising global threats. Here’s the link to the full article: https://lnkd.in/ezm5nQqT

The first week of the second Trump administration introduced an executive order on US foreign aid, causing uncertainty for organizations working with the State Department or USAID. These organizations have received many orders but little guidance on how to proceed. Learn more about the potential implications in the client alert: https://lnkd.in/gSAaXRAq Authors: Ian Moss and David Robbins #ForeignAid #ExecutiveOrder

To a point, that makes sense, but Africa is not approached in a level playing field manner, particularly vis-a-vis the relationships between African nations and China and Russia. African companies need to be able to compete on price but the heavily subsidized goods, coupled with the corruption China and Russia actively nurture, makes that especially difficult. How DOES a textile manufacturer in Africa compete with the volume of goods China is dumping on the markets, goods so heavily subsidized that, even with the cost of logistics, they are sold for less than cost? Point is that the West can't sit this one out, waiting for China to blow its wad of cash and come up empty-handed in 3 years or more. We can't sit idly by as billions in African minerals are pilfered through outright corrupt schemes that funnel illicit money to the Kremlin. These are STATE actors, and business alone, as good as we are, cannot carry all of the water needed to put out this fire. We need our governments to directly (and openly) confront Russia and China IN Africa. Forget handouts, just stop standing on the sidelines and changing policy every hour! Be real politik and stop the social engineering, masquerading as charity. Engage... Engage Russia and China everywhere and in all ways. Let our friends in Africa know that we are the partners they need, not the hegemonic, deceitful bullies they experience in China and Russia. #Africa #UnitedStates #TradePolicy #ForeignPolicy

One of the many hotly debated topics in the upcoming Presidential election will be who should and in what amount receive from the United States foreign aid. The two candidates have vastly different opinions on this sensitive issue: former President Trump is an outspoke advocate for less aid universally and President Biden just the opposite. So, I thought I would do some quick research on who are the top 10 countries receiving U.S. foreign aid in FY2022. Figures represent total disbursements, which are the actual amounts paid in cash or cash equivalents by federal agencies. All figures were sourced from foreignassistance.gov, and are as of May 2024. At the time of writing, full reporting for FY2023 is not yet available. Ukraine was the largest recipient of foreign aid, with $11.2B disbursed throughout FY2022. This was a massive increase from the $419M sent in FY2021. © Visual Capitalist, 2024. All Rights Reserved, used with permission. 

The first week of the second Trump administration introduced an executive order on US foreign aid, causing uncertainty for organizations working with the State Department or USAID. These organizations have received many orders but little guidance on how to proceed. Learn more about the potential implications in the client alert: https://lnkd.in/gSAaXRAq Authors: Ian Moss and David Robbins #ForeignAid #ExecutiveOrder