World Vision and other organizations call for more funding to fight global poverty and disease; call heeded by U.S. Senate.

March 19, 2008

World Vision applauds the leadership of the U.S. Senate, which voted in support of an amendment that restores critical, life-saving funding to the international affairs budget.

Resources for diplomacy and development programs increased

Last week, the Senate Budget Committee proposed cuts to the 2009 U.S. international affairs budget. The proposed cuts would have put at risk the lives of impoverished children and families in developing nations, while diminishing America's global humanitarian leadership and the fight against the world's deadliest epidemics.

Recognizing these consequences, Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., offered an amendment to restore $4.1 billion to the international affairs budget. World Vision, the ONE Campaign, and the U.S. Campaign for Global Leadership backed the amendment.

The Biden-Lugar amendment returns the U.S. funding to the level requested by the Bush administration. By contrast, the reduction originally proposed by the Senate Budget Committee represented the largest cut in a decade.

Key support

"The leadership of Sens. Biden and Lugar on this amendment was critical," says Robert Zachritz, World Vision's director of advocacy and government relations. "With three-fourths of the United States Senate voting to restore the international affairs budget to the level requested by the [Bush] administration, senators clearly realized that the American people care about global humanitarian programs, which for pennies a day are saving children's lives."

At a mere 1.3 percent of the entire federal budget, the international affairs budget funds essential diplomatic and development programs vital to protecting our national security, promoting economic prosperity here and abroad, and demonstrating American humanitarian values around the world.

Next steps

Once Congress returns from a two-week recess, a House-Senate Budget Conference Committee is expected to convene to resolve differences between the two bills. World Vision, the ONE Campaign, and the U.S. Campaign for Global Leadership will vigorously support the full $39.8 billion proposed for the international affairs budget.