Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley called on Congress together to convene a national debate about America’s role in the world, warned against isolationism and rejected deep foreign aid cuts recommended in President Donald Trump’s budget.
The budget recommended a 28 percent cut to foreign aid funding, which Albright, who served under former President Bill Clinton, and Hadley, who served under former President George W. Bush, rejected repeatedly during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday. At the same time, Trump is pushing a hefty jump in military spending.
Hadley said they both believed in a need to upgrade and enhance U.S. military capabilities, but that the other parts of the “national security toolkit: diplomacy, trade and investment, development assistance, reconciliation and peacebuilding skills and sound political advice” are also required — particularly in the Middle East.