CWS relieved at 2011 U.S. funding ���saves’ but warns of 2012 aid cuts disaster

["Lesley Crosson" <lcrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

CWS relieved at 2011 U.S. funding ‘saves’ but warns of 2012 aid cuts
disaster

Washington --  April 13, 2011 -- Humanitarian agency Church World
Service has voiced appreciation for President Obama’s address to the
nation today expressing his commitment to reduce the federal budget in
ways that preserve America’s historical commitment to the most
vulnerable among us.   

The global agency also expressed relief over the agreement reached by
the President and Congress on Friday that narrowly averted a government
shutdown and withstood proposed massive cuts in FY2011 to domestic
hunger programs and assistance to hungry and impoverished people in
developing countries. 

But CWS said it is now turning attention to the looming 2012 budget
battle and raised grave concerns over the possibility that a 30 percent
cut in humanitarian and poverty-focused foreign aid is proposed for the
next fiscal year. 

Following President Obama’s address on the deficit, CWS Executive
Director and CEO Rev. John L. McCullough commented, “The President’s
vision called for a more balanced approach to reducing the nation’s
debt in a manner that preserves ‘the basic social compact’ with the
most vulnerable Americans, ‘protects the middle class, our commitment
to seniors, and our investments in the future.’ 

“We hope that Congress will enact 2012 budget legislation that
follows this lead and protects assistance to the poorest and most
vulnerable at home and abroad,” McCullough said.  

This morning, prior to Obama’s address on the deficit, CWS’s
McCullough sent a statement to members of the House of Representatives
and Senate expressing appreciation that, although last week’s 2011
deal “cut $8 billion from international affairs funding, the spending
agreement preserves most of the assistance for our impoverished and
vulnerable global neighbors at close to 2010 levels.” 

McCullough said Church World Service was relieved that Congress had
“heeded concerns” that proposed deep cuts to foreign assistance
“would cost many lives and undermine long-term global human
security. “

Turning to 2012 funding, in his letter to lawmakers on the Hill,
McCullough warned, “The budget proposal by the chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee would reduce international funding by nearly 30
percent. Such cuts will have devastating results. 

“If Congress enacts this proposal, millions of additional people will
go hungry. Countless more children will lose their lives to preventable
and treatable diseases.” 

This afternoon, following President Obama’s announced deficit
strategy, McCullough added, “A 2012 budget that might delete up to one
third of assistance to the world’s poorest would not start a good
deficit reduction program off on a balanced footing.”

Contrary to a widespread but mistaken view, humanitarian and
poverty-focused foreign aid are less than 1 percent of the total federal
budget.  “Drastic cuts in this area will not help to solve the budget
crisis,” said McCullough. “Poor, hungry and vulnerable children and
adults did not cause the budget deficit, and the poor need not and
should not have to suffer as a result. America is better than this.”

In his letter to Congress, McCullough stated deep worries that recent
progress in development in poor countries could be reversed if major
cuts in 2012 funding are enacted. “For example, U.S. government help
will dry up for women farmers … to become more productive and feed more
people,” he said. Women make up the majority of the rural farm force
in developing countries. 

On the domestic side of the 2012 budget, McCullough noted that analysts
have estimated that about two-thirds of the cuts in House Budget
Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s multiyear proposal would come from
assistance for low-income Americans. 

“As an agency focused on assisting people in the U.S. and in poor
countries to become self-r
eliant and food secure, Church World Service
urges members of Congress to reject these proposed cuts for 2012 and
maintain a robust commitment to assisting our hungry and impoverished
neighbors,” McCullough said.

This afternoon, President Obama referred to changes in the tax code as
part of his approach to reducing national debt. CWS’s McCullough
agrees. Instead of slashing domestic and foreign assistance, Church
World Service proposes that the “wisest and fairest ways to reduce the
deficit are to cut unnecessary and duplicative military spending and to
reduce the special tax breaks for the very wealthy,” in parallel with
a rigorous government focus on jobs creation within the U.S., which,
McCullough said, “will put more people back to work and restore
American prosperity.

“We call on Congress to support robust funding for our neighbors in
the U.S. and around the world who are struggling to overcome hunger,
poverty and homelessness. That’s the right thing to do; it’s right
for America; and it is right for the world,” he said.

In President Obama’s words today, “It’s about the kind of country
we believe in.” He said, “There has always been another thread
running throughout our history - a belief that we are all connected; and
that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation. … Part
of this American belief that we are all connected also expresses itself
in a conviction that each one of us deserves some basic measure of
security.”

Church World Service is a faith-based relief, sustainable development
and refugee assistance agency that for more than 65 years has worked in
the U.S. and abroad to end hunger and poverty and to promote peace and
justice around the world. 

See complete text of Church World Service Executive Director John
McCullough’s letter to Congress at
www.churchworldservice.org/budgetstatement 

Media Contacts
Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org 
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net 

Church World Service
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115
(212) 870-2676