“Something every American needs to know: When it comes to emergency response, and longer term efforts on behalf of child survival and disease reduction, U.S. foreign aid plays an indispensable role,” Marty Martin, global executive officer at Food for the Hungry, writes in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog. “U.S. funding, influence and leadership work in collaboration with local, national and international partners to help achieve life-saving successes,” such as programs that reduce disease burden and provide emergency relief aid, he writes. “The private sector and our government must continue to respond to emergency and daily tragedies with all the resources we can spare, together with the rest of the world,” Martin states, concluding, “Please ask Congress to increase, not decrease, that small portion of the budget targeted for poverty-focused health, development and humanitarian aid. And thank the bipartisan supporters in Congress who have long understood that this type of foreign aid is both a smart thing, and the right thing, to do” (12/4).