April 30th, 2010 by Chanan

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has not been in good stead with the foreign policy community since announcing last week his decision to slash some $4 billion from the Obama administration’s $58.5 billion budget request for State and USAID for fiscal 2011.

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) recently expressed their “deep disappointment” in Sen. Conrad’s proposal and also organized a letter signed by all eight living former Secretaries of State encouraging Congress to express their support for the full international affairs budget. The same argument has been made over the last week by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), and even U2 front-man, Bono. ”Development gets even less if Senator Conrad gets his way,” Bono said in a speech at the Atlantic Council’s annual awards dinner on Wednesday night. “So you peaceniks in fatigues have a job to do over the next few weeks.”

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