Associated Press: Officials: Tillerson eyes State Dept budget cut over 3 years
“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has agreed in principle to a White House proposal to slash foreign aid and diplomatic spending by 37 percent, but wants to spread it out over three years rather than in one dramatic cut. Officials familiar with Tillerson’s response to the proposal from the Office of Management and Budget said Friday that Tillerson suggested the reductions to the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development begin with a 20 percent cut in the next budget year…” (Lee, 3/3).

Los Angeles Times: Here’s one way of fighting terrorism that the U.S. may be rethinking under Trump
“…[A] strategy that the U.S. and other wealthy countries have turned to increasingly in recent years: using development aid as a means to prevent terrorism and violent extremism. The future of that approach is now in question under the Trump administration, which has proposed sharp cuts in foreign aid programs generally…” (Sewell, 3/5).

Reuters: Trump administration to propose ‘dramatic reductions’ in foreign aid
“… ‘We are going to propose to reduce foreign aid and we are going to propose to spend that money here,’ White House Office of Management Budget director Mick Mulvaney told Fox News on Saturday, adding the proposed cuts would include ‘fairly dramatic reductions in foreign aid.’ Mulvaney said the cuts in foreign aid would help the administration fund a proposed $54 billion expansion of the U.S. military budget. ‘The overriding message is fairly straightforward: less money spent overseas means more money spent here,’ said Mulvaney, a former South Carolina Representative…” (Shepardson, 3/4).