U.S. Must Maintain Investments In Foreign Aid, International Development

Writing in an opinion piece in The Hill’s “Congress Blog,” Jeremy Kadden, the senior legislative manager at InterAction, discusses 302(b) allocations, which are spending caps for individual appropriations bills. He says the House Appropriations Committee recently approved a cap for the “State, Foreign Operations bill (SFOPs), which covers nearly all foreign aid spending (minus some food aid programs located in the Agriculture bill).” He continues, “Estimates vary, but it would be 15 to 20 percent less than current funding levels.” He writes, “Sure, we must balance our books, but we can’t do it by cutting such a small, critical fraction of our budget. We have to go where the money is, and foreign aid isn’t it.” Kadden concludes, “If the United States is going to continue to be a global leader, we must continue to make the kinds of investments in foreign aid and international development that help people out of poverty and demonstrate our commitment and engagement in world affairs” (5/29).

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