After Congress passed a $ 900 billion coronavirus stimulus package and a $ 1.4 trillion overhead bill, Americans are concerned that more resources have gone to foreign aid than for the millions of people fighting at home.
Monday’s approval of the 5,593-page bill ended more than eight months of party stalemate. Includes weekly unemployment benefits, individual checks and assistance to small businesses through the Pay Check Protection Program.
The claim
Americans flooded social media, and particularly Twitter, after approval of the project to express their outrage over the package, which includes stimulus checks reduced from $ 1,200 to $ 600 of the first package for individuals earning up to $ 75,000. per annum.
In addition to the coronavirus aid package, a bill was passed that included foreign aid, leaving Americans wondering if other nations are receiving more aid than they are.
One of the tweets was posted by elected congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), who wrote about her discontent over the $ 10 million allocated to gender programs in Pakistan.
When your country’s COVID-19 relief bill includes $ 10 million in “gender programs” for Pakistan, you know that Congress is broken.
– Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) December 22, 2020
Many people are unhappy that the US is willing to spend billions of dollars abroad, but only $ 600 per person at home for the stimulus.
President Donald Trump later criticized the amount of money that was allocated for foreign aid and asked Congress to amend the bill to replace the $ 600 checks with $ 2,000.
“Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests, while sending the minimum necessary to the American people who needed it,” said Trump, who remained silent about the bill until it was passed.
The facts
According to the House Appropriations Committee, the $ 900 billion coronavirus relief package and the $ 1.4 trillion overhead account are two separate packages that fall under the year-end financing package for the fiscal year 2021. This framework is designed so that the $ 900 billion relief package is used specifically to deal with the widespread difficulties that Americans are facing with the coronavirus.
The $ 1.4 trillion spending account will keep the government funded until September 30, 2021 and covers a plethora of other government expenditures, including agricultural programs, financing from various government agencies, providing foreign aid and more. No money for foreign aid is being allocated from the $ 900 billion coronavirus relief package.
When your country’s COVID-19 relief bill includes $ 10 million in ‘gender programs’ for Pakistan, you know that Congress is broken.
Lauren Boebert, elected deputy
If you are a girl in Pakistan, life is very difficult, so we are trying to make life better for women all over the world.
Senator Lindsey Graham
Although coronavirus relief and foreign aid come from two different packages, Americans still want to know how the numbers compare. How much of the $ 1.4 trillion is being spent on foreign aid?
Israel will receive $ 3.3 billion in donations, while Egypt will receive $ 1.3 billion from the foreign military financing program. Burma, also known as Myanmar, will receive $ 135 million in aid “for programs to promote ethnic and religious tolerance and to combat gender-based violence”, in addition to mitigating ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims.
Colombia will receive US $ 461 million in aid, which depends on the country continuing to implement a national strategy to combat drug trafficking, protecting Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities and preventing attacks against journalists, union members and “human rights defenders”. Colombia must also take steps to hold government and military officials accountable for any crimes or violations of human rights.
After adding up all the programs that could be considered foreign aid under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, tens of billions of dollars were approved.
Senator Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), defended at least part of the foreign aid during an interview on Tuesday, Fox and friends.
“The foreign aid budget is 1% of all American spending,” he said. “Pakistan is a place that worries me a lot; 85 countries where a woman cannot open a bank account without her husband’s signature, she cannot inherit property. If you are a young woman in Pakistan, life is very difficult, then we are trying to make life better for women around the world. “
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House Appropriations Committee
The decision
False.
While Twitter users may lead you to believe the opposite, and are comparing apples to oranges with the stimulus project versus the 2021 general financing project, the amount of money allocated for foreign aid in the year-end package amounts to tens of billions of dollars considerably less than the $ 900 billion forecast for coronavirus relief for Americans.
Samuel Corum / Getty photo