Wall Street Journal: Bill and Melinda Gates: Let’s Keep Investing in the World’s Poor
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“…President Donald Trump has recommended a cut of some 30 percent to the State Department’s budget, which includes the funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development and most of America’s investments in global health. Congress is unlikely to go along with such large cuts, but our best guess is that, by the time the dust settles, key foreign aid programs will be scaled back. Even modest cuts would represent the reversal of a long-term trend of increasing U.S. support for foreign aid, and a similar mood of retrenchment has taken hold elsewhere. … Foreign aid isn’t perfect. … But U.S. foreign aid is spent purposefully and measured constantly, and on balance, it is extremely effective. … Our country’s modest investment in the well-being of the poorest saves and improves lives, frees up vast amounts of human potential that’s been locked away by disease and poverty, and helps prevent global crises before they happen. Generosity is one of our best exports. We are confident that Americans will want their government to continue making strategic investments in a safer, healthier, more prosperous world” (9/13).