Renew IFI funding

Times are tight, money is in short supply.

Well, yes and no. The money supply available to the U.S. economy is a flexible concept. At any given moment it can be measured by the amount of money ie. U.S. dollars, actually in circulation, tucked away but available for circulation, and indeed rolling off the federal government's printing presses.

The supply can be reduced or decreased by the government but generally the supply rises based on a number of factors including population and the raising of the debt ceiling on that population's behalf, a matter that is the subject of heated debate in Washington of late.

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The U.S., of course, is up to its eyes and beyond in debt, and the figure denoting it rises so rapidly that it's impossible to precisely pin down at any given moment. There is an electronic billboard in Manhattan measuring the national debt, and the numbers at the lower end of that figure are never more than a flashing blur.

That flashing blur is one of the reasons that Congress is so skittish about spending, and especially spending on so-called "earmarks."

One "earmark" in the crosshairs right now is the International Fund for Ireland.

There is an argument as to whether or not the fund precisely fits the congressional definition of an earmark, but that isn't deterring critics from pursuing it into a financial grave.

It's understandable that with the money supply moving through the economy so slowly - a prime symptom of an economic downturn - that members would want to delete what they see as being wasteful spending. But not all spending is wasteful.

The IFI, as U.S. aid goes, has been a focused and well run program with tangible results. The IFI, and that portion of it funded by U.S. taxpayers, is not entirely responsible for the peace and new politics in Northern Ireland, but it has been a sustained and significant factor in bringing both about.

And, to put it bluntly, it has been millions of dollars better spent than the countless billions of dollars poured into the coffer of dubious U.S. "allies" around the globe.

The IFI has a proven record and the U.S. contribution is money that, at the very least, has been relatively well spent. We hope that Congress sees fit to renew the U.S. contribution.

 

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