Lobbying 2016: Jordan tops list of Arab aid recipients
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan tops the list of Arab recipients of US aid this year, cementing its status as a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State and a bulwark against the instability ravaging the region.
Amman is set to receive $1.6 billion in economic and security assistance this fiscal year, including counterterrorism support funds, Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to Jordan in February. The aid package would put Jordan ahead of much-larger Egypt as Congress desperately tries to stop the country from collapsing under the strain of Syrian refugees.
House foreign aid appropriators for the second year in a row unveiled legislation this summer, setting aside $1.275 billion in aid to Jordan. That’s even more than the $1 billion called for in a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that President Barack Obama signed in February 2015, which itself already represented a 50% increase over the previous MOU.
Jordan has also been the beneficiary of almost $800 million in US humanitarian aid for victims of the war in Syria, including $127 million since the start of the fiscal year Oct. 1. And Obama in February signed into law legislation to enhance defense cooperation and expedite arms sales.
