Appropriators downsize Bush’s Palestinian request

Congressional appropriators effectively cut $10 million from President Bush’s request for funding for the Palestinians. The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee last week passed a foreign operations bill that includes Bush’s requested $63.5 million in economic assistance for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A report accompanying the bill notes that a separate $10 million request for the Child Survival and Health Program Fund be paid out of the overall $63.5 million. The report also asks the State Department to develop a strategy on empowering moderate Palestinians through social service programs. The bill, likely to be considered this week by the full House, also approves Bush’s $2.4 billion request for Israel, virtually all of it for defense spending.