Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   Trump Date:   1/8/2017 1:55:11 PM

Don't know about other places in the government, but travel and conventions have been scrutinized and minimized since the GSA fiasco in the Army.  Even when I was still working, 10 years ago, you had to do a cost/benefit analysis to hold a conference anywhere.  Foreign Aid is the purview of the State Department - I don't subscribe to blindly cutting it, because there is a value to foreign militaries coming to train at U.S. military schools - not just that they learn our ways of doing things, but they have a chance to really learn about the U.S. and how democracy works here.  It also strengthens military ties, as bonds are formed by training together.  But these blank check give aways via the Corps of Engineers to do big national building exercises should be carefully reviewed and questioned.  And the bennies that are given away everytime an official goes to visit somewhere ought to end.  Anytime you see someone (like the President, VP, Secretaries of Departments going overseas, know that  check is going to be thrown on the table for equipment, training, funding projects)  I don't think Obama or his wife have gone to Africa that there wasn't a big check left behind for millions or billions of dollars.  We really have to ask what we are getting for the money. Good will? 

I agree with Trump that we should be seeking a quid pro quo for anything we do in terms of foreign aid.  I'm not disparaging Israel or Egypt, but I think we should review what we are getting for the 1.8B and the 1.3B we are giving to those countries under the Camp David Accords.  We are paying them to essentially not fight each other.  And a lot of the $1.8B we give Israel is going into their national defense industry, not just to support their defense, but for them to also compete with us  in the global marketplace.