http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2013/03/13/un_officials_washington_defend_palestinian_refugee_aid
Josh Rogin
Foreign Policy
March 13, 2013 - 12:00am
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/03/13/un_officials_in_washington_to...
U.S. aid to the Palestinian refugees could fall victim to
the automatic budget cuts that went into effect March 1, so the head of
the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) made two trips to
Washington this month to argue for consistency in U.S. help for his
organization.
Filippo Grandi, the commissioner general of UNRWA, came to
Washington last week but had to come back this week due to the March 6
snowstorm. On Tuesday he met with Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne Richard, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), and staffers from the Senate Appropriations and Senate Foreign Relations Committees. He will also see Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and Middle East Special Envoy David Hale.
On Wednesday he sat down for an interview with The Cable.
Grandi said that U.S. contributions to UNRWA, which are voluntary,
are needed more than ever due to the dire situation of Palestinian
refugees caught up in the Syria crisis. Right now, the automatic budget
cuts known as sequestration require that all accounts be cut evenly, but
Congress is expected to provide the State Department flexibility in
deciding what to cut. Grandi said he feels confident State won't choose
to disproportionately cut money for UNRWA.
"I am encouraged that the will to support UNRWA is there, very
clearly. My sense is that if ever there will be any flexibility we will
be considered a priority recipient of State Department funds," he said.
"All the messages I got back were reassuring, within the context. We are
not at the center of the discussion, as you can imagine. We will have
to deal with the consequences of whatever is decided on the much bigger
scale."
UNRWA is working to get more money from the Gulf states and Asia, but
those funds are not forthcoming yet, so the organization is still very
dependent on U.S. contributions.
"Any reduction in U.S. funding would be really very serious for
UNRWA," Grandi said. "Any cut, selective or across the board, because
the U.S. is the biggest bilateral donor, would be irreplaceable."
Some lawmakers, including Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Sen. Mark Kirk
(R-IL) have been working to reduce U.S. contributions to UNRWA. Grandi
said he requested meetings with both those offices but they didn't grant
him meetings... READ MORE
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