Foreign Aid Priorities
But when you give a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled the lame, and the blind. And you will
be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the
resurrection of the righteous.
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Editor's Note: A Few Months Ago, the Women's Division, along with other religious leaders, signed a letter to Congress supporting ONE PERCENT of the federal budget be designated for non-military assistance and funding of debt relief for the world's impoverished countries. This is a finalized copy of the letter.
June 8, 2000
Dear Representative:
As you develop the foreign assistance budget for the coming year, we write to share the concerns of the faith communities. A new millennium is upon us. in the spirit of the biblical Jubilee year described in Leviticus 25 and Luke 4, we call for a Jubilee in today's world to provide a fresh start to those living in hunger and need: "And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants" (Leviticus 2:10). The God we strive to follow is one who hears the cry of suffering people and inspires us to work for a better world. As religious leaders, we believe that these teachings lead us to advocate for public policies and laws based on justice and compassion.
As we consider the needs of those we service, we see the following priorities:
Debt Cancellation: Our churches and organizations support the international Jubilee 2000 movement to cancel the crushing debts of the poorest countries by the end of the year 2000. We urge you to continue to act generously to meet this pressing need. Please approve the funds needed to provide for canceling both the debts owed to the United States and to multilateral institutions like the World Bank by the highly indebted and impoverished countries that now qualify for debt relief under US law. At a minimum, the U.S. must meet its commitment towards the cancellation of impoverished country debts to multilateral institutions, as agreed to at last June's meeting in Cologne, Germany, of the affluent industrial nations (G-7). We urge similar contributions to both bilateral and multilateral debt cancellation in future years until these debts are canceled entirely.
However, funding debt relief must not come at the cost of reducing funds available for other development programs.
Development Assistance: There is compelling need to increase the U.S. commitment to sustainable development assistance. Despite polling data that shows overwhelming public support for increased spending on these programs, we rank last in the industrialized world in terms of the percentage of our GDP which is directed to help those in most need. We are deeply concerned that our nation commits less than half of a percent of its budget to humanitarian relief and sustainable development assistance. This trend must be reversed, especially at a time of budget surplus. We urge you to provide funding equal to ONE PERCENT of the federal budget for non-military development assistance for poverty reduction in the most impoverished countries of the world.
We hope that you share these humanitarian concerns and urge you to act on them this year.