Target: Jim Risch, Chair of U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Goal: Restore support for global aid programs that benefit disadvantaged people and help protect American security interests.
Starving children, impoverished communities ravaged by malaria and AIDS, women lacking educational opportunity, and war zone refugees in desperate need of clean and safe water: these are just some of the human beings around the world who benefit from foreign aid provided by the United States. Within days, this aid was abruptly frozen by the Trump administration while the independent agency responsible for much of the nation’s humanitarian efforts was gutted. As further insult to this devastating injury, President Trump removed the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The loss of USAID in particular could have long-term ramifications. This agency was developed by President Kennedy during the 1960s to help people around the world. President Kennedy reasoned that a safe, secure, and healthy world of neighbors would ultimately benefit and protect the United States as well. Every year, the agency provides crucial on-the-ground assistance to over 100 nations at a cost of less than one percent of the U.S. budget. The agency is credited with helping reduce famine, developing clean water programs, playing a key role in curbing the worst impacts of health epidemics, and providing life-saving aid in war-torn regions like Ukraine and Gaza. Aside from the catastrophic impact worldwide, roughly 10,000 American workers stand to lose their jobs if USAID cannot continue its independent work.
Sign the petition below to demand Congress push back against the executive’s eradication of yet another set of laws Congress created.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Senator Risch,
Would you argue that John Kennedy was a consequential American president? And will you stand by as an agency he created and championed is decimated by the unelected billionaires of a “department” who trade in lies and unfounded allegations? Congress funds USAID and foreign aid and has for decades upheld this agency’s independence. Because of this support, millions of lives have been saved around the world and thousands of Americans have found a meaningful calling.
If you abandon USAID and its mission now, the only people who will be cheering are the dictators across the globe who now have one less significant threat to their oppression and control. In fact, three such strongmen have already welcomed the news of USAID in peril.
America emblemizes hope and light for so many people on this planet. Do not snatch that hope away. Protect USAID’s autonomy, resume critical foreign aid initiatives, and make American humane again.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Editorstandard
3 Signatures