Department of States Budget Cuts
Thane Rolston
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Part of President Trump’s plan for his first 100 days, is that he wants to make drastic cuts to government spending. His spending cuts include reducing the budget for the United States Department of State to $27.1 Billion, a 29% decrease from last year (Washington Post). Republicans in the United States House of Representatives should not approve of these budget cuts. If these budget cuts to the Department of State are passed, it could hurt the United States by making us more vulnerable to terrorism, as well as possibly strengthen the Chinese Government, and threaten future energy security in America.
Budget cuts to the Department of State will make the fight against radical Islamic terrorism even harder than it currently is. Fighting radical Islamic terrorism has become a top priority of the Trump administration, as well as the Republican party as a whole. That fight is largely in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are retaking large parts of the country and the Islamic State is growing in strength and numbers. While the soldiers of the Resolute Support Mission (the remaining soldiers in Afghanistan) continue to train the Afghanis and fight terrorists in the country, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is working to better the Afghan Economy, so that young people have jobs and do not need to turn to terrorism to support themselves and their families. Part of the proposed budget cuts for the State Department include a 31% reduction in our financial support to the IMF. One of the largest projects the IMF supports in Afghanistan is to connect more people to the power grid. Only 30% of people there have access to electricity, but the number of people with access to electricity grows by 6% every year. Connecting Afghanis to the power grid is a strategic objective for coalition forces because with an increase in connectivity, people have access to education. With education, poverty can be eradicated; poverty being a driving force behind extremist ideology. That project is in danger due to the possibility of a lack of funding. If the project fails, it could have disastrous consequences in regards to our fight against extremists. Having electricity means that stores can operate, ecommerce firms can open even in remote villages, and a constant power supply means that businesses can stay open more, instead of closing during frequent power outages, therefore allowing workers to work longer and earn more money. If Afghanistan does not have access to stable electricity, people will continue to be poor. Because of the amount of poor people combined with low economic productivity, there is a power vacuum in rural regions, as government efforts are focused on urban centers such as Kabul and Kandahar. Places like the Helmand Province are neglected. These power vacuums create the ability for terror groups to build clinics and schools, using them as recruitment tools for poor youths (Beenish Ahmed). This, in turn, strengthens groups such as the Taliban, who can afford to build schools and clinics in neglected communities. A decrease in funding for the State Department will cause the Taliban to become stronger because poverty will increase, leading to vulnerable youths to be recruited as fighters and suicide bombers threatening Americans in Afghanistan as well as allowing the Taliban to take over more of the country.
Future cuts to the United States Department of State could strengthen communist China and threaten the United States’ position as the leading global superpower. Along with radical Islamic terrorism, the current Trump administration has outlined the People’s Republic of China as a growing threat to the United States, both militarily and economically. Over the past two decades, China has become the “workshop of the world”, allowing them to modernize. Fueling their growth is a hunger for natural resources. Those resources come from all over the continent of Africa. A lack of attention paid to Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa, particularly, by the United States has left a vacuum for economic development that has been seized by the Chinese. The Chinese trade over $132 billion annually with the African continent. To counter Chinese development in Africa, the United States has been increasing humanitarian aid to African countries, mainly through the IMF and the World Bank. Projects include building schools and combating dangerous diseases like malaria and HIV/ AIDS. While the United States has been doing this, the Chinese have been supplying water to Liberia, a $12 billion railroad in Nigeria, and a new, $6 billion, 10,000 resident city in South Africa. These are a few of the massive projects across the African continent aimed at infrastructure development. The People’s Republic is investing heavily in the continent with aims to one day sell goods there. Africa has a larger middle class than India, representing a huge opportunity for the United States to increase exports to new markets. If the United States is no longer able to support African countries as it has been in the past, the United States of America lose influence over the fastest growing continent on the earth to the Chinese. A loss of influence there would threaten access to African markets by US firms; firms that create American jobs by selling to a region with a middle class larger than India (China-US Focus). Along with its vast amounts of people, Africa is one of the most resource rich places on earth. Access to these resources mean that the Chinese are able to continue to produce large volumes of goods as cheaply as they do currently. Along with reducing Chinese production costs, Chinese domination of Africa reduces the number of countries that firms from the United States can source materials from, therefore increasing the cost of producing goods in the United States, contradicting President Trump when he said, “I am going to bring back American jobs from China”. If the President and Republican members of Congress are serious about bringing American jobs back from overseas, actions that make China more competitive are counterintuitive. Actions such as reducing aid and investment to a large emerging market that China has their eye on. Actions like cutting funding from the Department of State, the agency handling foreign relations.
Along with the economic consequences of President Trump’s proposed cuts to the State Department, National Defense could also suffer under the proposed budget. Economic prosperity achieved by China from African markets could help the Chinese military. In 2000, Chinese arms accounted for 3% of all weapons sold in Africa. By 2010, Chinese arms accounted for around 25% (Public Radio International). This is important because economic prosperity gives the government funding it needs to develop new, advanced weapons that are being sold to African countries. Since China is developing close diplomatic relationships with African governments, they are becoming more likely to buy Chinese weapons. This is shown by the growth in weapons sales they have had since engaging in diplomatic relations with Africa. Diplomatic relations in the form of investing infrastructure projects. All of this is bad for the United States, because modern conflict calls for coalitions of nations, many lead by the United States military involving African countries. The United States would not be able to count on countries we are allied with today if the Chinese continue to expand their influence over our current allies and partner forces, such as Kenya and Nigeria. Kenya and Nigeria are two of the largest recipients of aid from China. If cuts to the United Stated Department of State are approved, there will be less funding for aid and diplomatic missions in Africa, creating a vacuum of influence over the continent. A vacuum that could be filled by the Chinese, who have already been increasing military cooperation with African countries, strengthening the People’s Liberation Army (the Chinese equivalent of the Department of Defense). The same people doing fly byes of US Navy warships in the South China Sea and building islands off the coasts of our allies. State Department budget cuts could help strengthen the People’s Liberation Army by helping them increase funding for these projects through weapons sales and trade revenues with the African continent.
With the Middle East becoming more turbulent, America needs to shift where oil and energy resources are being imported from. Funding for the Department of State should not be cut by almost a third, as it has been proposed by President Donald Trump in the Fiscal Year 2018 budget, as it could have disastrous effects on American energy imports. Peter Brookes, a Senior Fellow for national security affairs at the Heritage Foundation and Ji Hye Shin, a counselor to the President believe:
Africa is an increasingly important oil supplier for the United States, providing 15 percent of total U.S. oil imports, which is forecast to increase to 25 percent within the next decade. Given America’s desire to diversify its energy supplies, the United States should press countries in Africa to open their oil and gas sectors to foreign investment and remove regulatory and other barriers that constrain economic development of those resources (Heritage Foundation).
If the United States expects to increase oil imports from Africa, the House of Representatives cannot afford to take away billions from the State Department. Maintaining relationships with oil producing countries would be an effective tool to fight off competition from the Chinese, as the United States could trade humanitarian aid and investments in infrastructure for oil rights. Seven percent of Chinese oil imports come from Sudan, and imports from Africa are only rising (The Economist). The data shows that while the United States projects that oil imports from Africa will increase in the near-future, the Chinese are on track to increasing imports as well. If the State Department cannot afford to invest with Africa, the Chinese will pick fill the vacuum left, allowing them to better their relationships with African nations and possibly giving them an upper hand in negotiations for oil contracts.
President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts to the Department of State should not be approved by the House of Representatives. The $10 billion, or 31% budget cuts will not only cost the United States, but it could undermine objectives set by both the Trump administration and the Republican Party. The massive budget cuts to the United States Department of State could have the effect of impeding the fight against terrorism in the middle east, economically and militarily strengthening the communist government of China, and also threatening future of energy security in America.
Works Cited
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