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Dear Board of Directors,


With less than 14 days to go until voters head to the polls, it looks like a little foreign policy is entering the mid-term dialogue – and not surprisingly, foreign aid is in the mix.


1. Cutting Aid to the Northern Triangle. Of course you have seen all the news of the caravan, which is becoming as much of a domestic debate around immigration and security, as it is a foreign policy issue around migration. However, ICYMI:


* On Monday, POTUS’ morning tweets focused on aid to the Northern Triangle: “We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to [Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala].”

* Fairly quickly, we heard bipartisan opposition from Capitol Hill, including this from Senator Rubio: “Our aid to Honduras and Guatemala isn’t charity. It helps us more than them… it’s border security because it helps fight the gangs that are terrorizing the people who ultimately wind up on our border.”

* The USGLC’s statement is here<https://www.usglc.org/newsroom/usglc-ceo-statement-on-aid-to-central-america/>, highlighting the fact that the mere 0.00035% of the entire federal budget spent on aid to the region is key to slowing migration.

* We re-circulated our fact sheet, which has been picked up in numerous press stories, including by NPR’s Michele Kelemen on Morning Edition who interviewed House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) saying this policy “is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.”


2. Globalist versus Nationalist. On a similar theme, at the campaign rally on Monday night for Senator Cruz in Houston, the president embraced the term “nationalist” to the cheers of “USA, USA, USA!” He called Democrats “globalists” saying: “A globalist is a person who wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much… We can’t have that… They have a word, it sort of became old-fashioned, it’s called a ‘nationalist’… You know what I am, I am a nationalist. OK.”


* While this is another twist of the “America First” theme – and clearly playing to the president’s base – the term “nationalist” also clearly has historic and ugly undertones, and has created a great deal of attention in the press.


3. Foreign Assistance Review Coming. Unfortunately, we’ve just learned that the administration’s Foreign Assistance Review (the one that is likely to call for conditional aid) could be finalized as early as Monday. Expect content that we won’t agree with.


* While normally we would just address this as an inside-the-beltway challenge, we need to be prepared for the fact that foreign aid rhetoric could become an appealing part of the president’s “America First” mantra on the campaign trail with the final push toward Election Day.


* Important to remember: It’s still unclear what authority the Administration would be acting under to alter or cut back programs and resources appropriated by Congress, but the messaging and rhetoric could be harmful – especially in the final days of the campaign.


Stay tuned,


Liz

Liz Schrayer, USGLC