With Congress committed to finding another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years, lawmakers are in no mood to support a big aid package for Libya – nor is the Obama administration likely to request it.
Congressional leaders say an oil-producing state ought to be able to meet its own needs, especially with some $110 billion in frozen assets worldwide expected to be released to a new regime. TNC leaders "have even talked to me about reimbursing the United States for its costs incurred in this conflict,” said Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Fox News.
“The humanitarian situation continues to be dire,” said Undersecretary of State William Burns at a Libya Contact Group meeting in Istanbul on Thursday. “We must accelerate our help, including our efforts to unfreeze assets and make them available to the Libyan people, to whom they truly belong.”
Later on Thursday, the UN announced it would release $1.5 billion in frozen Libyan funds, provided they were used only for humanitarian and other civilian needs.
The situation on the ground in Libya could prompt requests for more aid when Congress returns in September. “The big question is whether a Congress focused on spending cuts is willing to assist with the transition,” says Cole Bockenfeld, director of advocacy for the Project on Middle East Democracy, a public interest group in Washington.
If the Obama administration chooses to ask for aid, it will need to persuade Congress that "this is a vital national security interest for the US – and important for the Arab Spring to keep the momentum of its early democracies,” he adds. “That’s something the administration needs to sell the Congress.”
