blocking foreign aid to saudi arabia
just a tiny little blip on the radar, and something that was quickly spun out of the news with the latest iran-scare, but i thought i’d go ahead and mention it….
House Votes to Block Aid for Saudi Arabia [reuters, july 15, 2004]The House voted 217-191 to remove $25,000 in the $19.4 billion 2005 foreign aid bill earmarked for Saudi Arabia.
The funds were designated for military training but approval would have triggered millions of dollars in discounts on hardware and other military training, lawmakers said.
you’ll have to engage someone significantly more involved in the political machine and creative accounting than i to understand how $25,000 can “trigger millions of dollars in discounts” and still be just $25,000…
of course, saudi arabia really doesn’t need american tax dollars, but there’s much much more political capital than monetary capital in this issue. the fact that a $25,000 line-item in the congress made the news at all says a lot about the symbolic value of those dollars.