Why we need to protect the International Affairs Budget.

According to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Americans on average believe that 26 percent of the federal budget goes to foreign aid. However, in reality, foreign aid accounts for only 0.8 percent.

The Trump administration has proposed 31 percent cuts to the International Affairs Budget. However, as 121 retired military generals stated in their letter to Congressional leaders, “the International Affairs Budget must keep pace with the growing global threats and opportunities we face,” these funds are essential for national security and America’s economy.

Firstly, foreign aid helps protect national security. It keeps 300 million American citizens safe from epidemics. For example, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative program whose biggest funder is the United States government prevented the Ebola epidemic from spreading to Nigeria, an international travel hub. A lot of health workers staying in Nigeria for the polio eradication program were quickly reassigned from polio to Ebola, and it played the biggest role in keeping Nigeria safe from Ebola. Without those efforts, the pandemic would have spread to America by infected travelers coming from Nigeria.

Secondly, foreign assistance is essential for the safety of Americans from violent extremist groups such as ISIS. Indeed, orphans who were abandoned because of their parents’ death from AIDS were targets for extremist recruiters. Therefore, the more we put efforts to end the world’s poor, the less likely those people in need are to get involved in crime, and it bolsters national security.

Lastly, protecting the International Affairs Budget promotes America’s economy. Foreign aid helps countries that suffer from extreme poverty improve the local economy, which will boost the consumption of American products in those countries. 95% of the people living outside the U.S. are important consumers to American companies. Providing foreign assistance to eradicate global poverty helps more people in those countries join the middle-income class, leading to increase in sales of American goods. The growth of revenue of American companies will accelerate America’s economy, and it will enable companies to hire more people.