Rep. Nita Lowey, chair of the House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, has returned from the Middle East — where she visited several U.S. assistance projects and met with Israeli and Palestinian officials. Here’s her release:
Our delegation had informative and productive meetings in Israel and in the West Bank with representatives of the Israeli and Palestinian governments, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. In addition, we received updates from Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, Ambassador James Cunningham, Consul General Jake Walles, and USAID Mission Director Howard Sumka about the efforts of our skilled and dedicated American defense, diplomatic, and development personnel to make the region and our nation more secure. These meetings and site visits in Israel and the West Bank provided the opportunity to conduct oversight of U.S. foreign assistance and develop critical insight that will help the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee to evaluate President Obama’s pending Supplemental Fiscal Year 2009 and Fiscal t Year 2010 budget requests.
