"Unanimous Senate passage of a Kerry-Lugar bill, tripling US non military aid to Pakistan.."

LR/ here

"..... the Obama administration celebrated one victory today on the troubled Af-Pak front: unanimous Senate passage of a Kerry-Lugar sponsored bill, tripling U.S. non military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion per year for the next five years. The authorization measure still needs to pass the House.

U.S. Special AfPak Envoy Richard Holbrooke was just apprised of the news, when he briefed the press in New York this afternoon after participating in a "Friends of Pakistan" meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, President Barack Obama, and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.....

The bill, Holbrooke said, "is a five-year authorization, which, as you all know, is very unusual in the modern world, and represents the Senate making a multiyear commitment to the security of Pakistan, 1.5 billion a year. And we all know the difference between an appropriation and an authorization, and there’s a lot of work left to be done. But as an indicate – and this bill, in various forms, has been kicking around the Hill for a long time. It was originally called Biden-Lugar-Obama. And Senator – then-Senator Obama used to joke that the third man – his name on a bill never gets mentioned. And so we – this is a very important step forward, but it’s only a step. We’ve got a lot more work to do."