Budget Cuts Will Hurt the Poor
In continuing efforts to slash the budget deficit facing the United States, the House of Representatives recently approved sharp budget cuts to poverty-fighting, humanitarian aid—which makes up less than one percent of the US budget and, if enacted, threaten the health and lives of millions of needy people around the world, according to the Christian Reformed Church World Relief Committee and the CRC’s Office of Social Justice.
In the process of the budget-cutting, aid and development programs that work — when wisely supervised and properly administered – could be eliminated for people who truly are in need. In the House vote, programs that fight AIDS, malaria and hunger were cut by 40 percent. Programs that promote long-term economic growth were reduced up to 30 percent.
"While cuts in development assistance are never desirable when so many are without even food, we also need to work for policies that assure aid is used in transparent and effective ways," said Andrew Ryskamp, U.S. director for CRWRC.
Ryskamp emphasized that aid and development go hand in hand and continue to be necessary in a world in which, as Jesus Christ said, the poor will always be with us. In discussing the issue, it is important to realize that a political push to save money is needed, but aid to the world’s poorest people is a moral imperative that must be part of the discussion.
The budget now goes to the U.S. Senate. In the next two weeks, the Senate will be examining budget proposals that would cut overall international affairs spending by 20 percent and programs that combat hunger, malaria, and AIDS by 40 percent.
Since humanitarian and poverty-focused foreign assistance make up one-half of one percent of the total budget, drastic cuts in this area will not help to solve the budget crisis, but they will have detrimental impacts on millions of people living in poverty and survivors of crises worldwide, says an OSJ news release.
A look at proposed cuts:
Cuts to humanitarian assistance and refugees:
A proposed 45 percent cut in Migration and Refugee Assistance and a 67 percent cut in International Disaster Assistance would shutter programs that provide emergency health, safe shelter and clean water for millions of survivors of conflicts, human rights abuses and natural disasters.
Similarly, the Office of Refugee Resettlement budget, which has been flat for decades, would be cut by the proposed plan, meaning additional pressure on state and local governments, already facing dwindling budgets, would be asked to assist in the resettlement of refugees.
Cuts to hunger programs:
Almost eight million children under five years old in the developing world die each year of preventable causes – 60 percent of these deaths due to hunger and hunger-related diseases, a number that has been steadily decreasing in recent years, in part because of U.S. investments in global food security.
Cuts to global health:
Drastic reductions to global health will halt the supply of HIV medications for millions who have already begun treatment. The cuts mean 3.7 million people won't get tested for HIV this year; 10.4 million bed nets won't get to families to fight malaria, and 58,000 moms-to-be won’t receive the medicine to make sure their babies are born HIV-free.
The OSJ and CRWRC ask members of the CRC to contact their US senators, asking them to prevent cuts to humanitarian and poverty-focused foreign assistance for the remainder of fiscal year 2011.
"These proposed cuts are a tiny amount in the total budget, and yet they make a real and immediate difference in the lives of so many around the world," writes Peter VanderMeulen, coordinator of OSJ, in letter also signed by Ryskamp. To learn more and take action.
