US house bill cuts Pak aid by $10 million to help Ukraine

Washington: A key Congressional committee has slashed $10 million in American aid given to Pakistan which will now be used to extend fresh financial assistance to crisis-hit Ukraine. [caption id=“attachment_1439003” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pro-Ukrainian activists shout slogans as they demonstrate during an EU foreign ministers meeting outside the EU Council in Brussels. AP[/caption] The $10 million taken from the annual $1.5 billion aid to Pakistan would be used to carry out programming in the Ukrainian, Balkan, Russian, and Tatar language services of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty and Voice of America, the House Bill said. The legislation - HR 4278, the Ukraine Support Act - was passed yesterday by an overwhelming bipartisan support by the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. Introduced last week by the committee Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel, it promotes Ukraine’s sovereignty and democratic institutions while sanctioning those who have sought to undermine it’s independence and stability. The issue of moving funds from the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill - which is officially known as the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 - was raised during the mark up of the bill by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “My reading of the bill (HR 4278) is that we’re actually taking money from the Pakistani aid budget and putting it into the Ukraine aid budget instead,” Congressman Alan Grayson said. “In terms of that portion of the budget, I think it’s broadcasting in Pakistan that we’re taking the funds and applying it here,” Congressman Ed Royce said. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for further action. “Russia’s armed intervention in Ukraine and its illegal annexation of Crimea have created an international crisis,” Royce said. “The danger is far from over. If we wish to deter Putin from further aggression, the US and our allies must take immediate action to strengthen Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence and target Russian officials and others who are responsible for those actions,” Royce said. PTI