“The Trump administration has zeroed out of the State Department budget a request from a nonprofit entity set up in honor of J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador killed in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 terrorist attacks,” The Washington Post is reporting.
“The agency’s fiscal 2021 budget proposal cuts $420 million from its educational and cultural programs, including $5 million for the Stevens Initiative, an organization created to memorialize the late ambassador’s dedication to cultivating international exchanges.
“This appears to be at least the third time that dedicated funding for the program has been removed by Trump’s budget officials. For the past two years, Congress has restored it.
“A State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss official matters, defended the suggested cut, saying that even if it isn’t included in a final budget, it doesn’t necessarily mean the Stevens program will lose funding.
“’The flexibility of the ECE [Educational and Cultural Exchange] budget allows for programs to continue under other line items, such as ‘Professional and Cultural Exchanges,’ even when they do not have a separate budget line item,” the official said in an email.
(Ambassador Stevens was laid to rest in Grass Valley. He was born in GV, and his senior thesis was about Cornish miners. A walkway in Downtown Grass Valley is dedicated to the fallen hero).
The rest of the article is here.
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