The Hill News

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) defended foreign aid as essential to American national-security interests Monday morning after the programs came under fire at Saturday's Republican presidential debate.

"I think we need to examine all of our foreign aid and make sure it makes sense â€" there's never been a good time to waste money, but … on the other hand the foreign aid we put out is a very small part of our overall budget, and an important part of it," Rubio said Monday on Fox News.

Rick Perry said during the debate Saturday that he would cut American aid budgets to zero for each foreign country, and then tie future spending to the extent to which countries supported the United States. Perry implied that Pakistan would no longer receive aid, but that Israel would continue to.

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