Kerry-Lugar bill would triple aid to Pakistan (updated)

Kerry-Lugar bill would triple aid to Pakistan

By J. Taylor Rushing
Posted: 05/04/09 06:17 PM
The two senators atop the Foreign Relations Committee on Monday introduced long-awaited legislation tripling financial aid to Pakistan.

The bill, sponsored by committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and ranking member Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), would give Pakistan $7.5 billion through 2013, which is the total requested by the Obama administration.

The legislation was finalized only after Kerry’s fact-finding mission to Pakistan over the Easter recess. During that trip he encountered criticism from Pakistan’s government on including benchmarks for progress in his legislation.

Companion legislation from the House Foreign Affairs Committee had angered Pakistan by tying aid to conditions.

The bill, titled the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009, was originally introduced by Lugar and then-committee Chairman Joe Biden (D-Del.) last July.

Besides tripling funding, it lifts restrictions on domestic aid, ties military aid to Pakistani efforts to resist the Taliban, requires a strategic plan from the president to Congress and broadens U.S. aid to include Pakistan's judicial system, educational system and economy.

“The dangers of inaction are real,” Kerry said at a press conference. “The truth is that our leverage is limited. This bill aims to increase that leverage significantly, but we need to be realistic about what we can accomplish. Americans can influence events in Pakistan, but we cannot and we should not decide them. Ultimately the decisionmakers are the people and the leaders of Pakistan.”

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May 4, 2009

Senators introduce legislation tripling aid to Pakistan

From CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott

WASHINGTON (CNN) – As Pakistani forces continue to battle an advancing Taliban, the leading senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee introduced legislation Monday tripling aid to the country.

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In a statement released Monday, the senators said they aim to build "a deeper, broader, long-term strategic engagement with the people," rather than just the leaders of Pakistan, acknowledging past U.S. aid to the country had been tied to political events, "sending mixed messages and leading most Pakistanis to question both our intentions and our staying power."

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In introducing the legislation on the Senate floor, Kerry, chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, warned, "An alarming percentage of the Pakistani population now sees America as a greater threat than al Qaeda.

"Until we change that perception there is, frankly, very little chance of ending tolerance for terrorist groups or persuading any Pakistani government to devote the political capital necessary to deny such groups … the sanctuary that they've been able to receive."

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