House lawmakers want the State Department to handle aid to Pakistan.

Administrative authority for a new $400 million counterinsurgency fund for Pakistan should
reside within the State Department, not the Pentagon, according to House appropriators’ version
of the fiscal year 2009 supplemental bill.

The language crafted by the House Appropriations defense subcommittee would effectively give
control of the proposed $400 million military aid account to State Department administrators,
since the Secretary of State Hilliary Clinton is the “principal advisor to the president on foreign
policy matters,” the legislation states.