Stabilizing Pakistan

Wall Street Journal tries to play politics with Pakistan bills

Evan Hill | July 2, 2009 4:03 AM | 0 | recommend (0) |   |      

A WSJ opinion piece in print today tries to blame "Democrats" for moving too slowly on twin pieces of legislation that would throw billions of dollars to Pakistan over the next five years.

The article tries to make an issue out of certain restrictions written into the House's version of the Pakistan aid bill by California Rep. Howard Berman. Berman, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, is sponsoring the House's edition of a similar act in the Senate known as the Kerry-Lugar bill.

Both bills have passed and now need to be reconciled. It's worth noting, for the WSJ's sake, that 167 of the 175 representatives who voted no on Berman's bill were Republicans.

You can find good info on Kerry-Lugar (the "Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009) here. Same with Berman's bill (the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Act) here.

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Categories: Pakistan, Politics, Regional News

Tags: Barack Obama, Berman bill, Howard Berman, John Kerry, Kerry-Luger bill, Pakistan, Richard Luger

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