President Trump’s Proposed Cuts To Foreign Aid Threatens Lives

Project Syndicate: Trump’s Unethical Aid Cuts
Peter Singer, professor at Princeton University and laureate professor at the University of Melbourne

“…When one considers the low proportion of its gross income that the U.S. gives as foreign aid, [President] Trump’s decision [to cut foreign aid] becomes even more shameful. … Trump’s proposed aid cuts would cause many people to die, and many more to face additional suffering from illness and disability that could have been prevented with better health care. To use the possibility of creating dependence to justify the cuts, we would need hard evidence, not only that some aid programs have created dependence, but that specific global health programs adversely affected by the cuts really are creating dependence. In the absence of such evidence, an unproven hypothesis is insufficient reason to cause people to die or to increase their suffering. … In terms of doing good, these global health programs may well offer the best value of any federal government program. … There are welcome signs that some Republicans in the U.S. Congress will resist Trump’s proposed deep cuts in U.S. aid. Let’s hope that they do. Foreign aid — especially aid that saves lives and reduces human suffering — should not be a partisan issue” (7/11).

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