Fully Fund America’s International Affairs Budget – By Patrick Murphy & Blair Milo (Defense One) / Oct 6, 2022
Few investments reap larger rewards than the less-than-1% we spend on diplomacy and development.
Right now, the world looks like a grim place. As war, humanitarian crises, energy shocks, food shortages, climate change, and economic turmoil dominate the headlines, it is more important than ever that America lead efforts to confront the threats to global stability. Our military alone cannot address today’s challenges; we must also maintain our leadership in diplomacy and development. That means fully funding the State Department and USAID.
The American Legion—our country’s largest wartime veteran service organization, at nearly two million members—recognizes this. For the first time in its 103-year history, the organization has passed a resolution to support a fully funded international affairs budget and is making this a legislative focus.
Americans across the country are seeing global crises affect their lives and families. One example is Russia’s war in Ukraine. Up to 323 million people around the world are expected to be acutely food-insecure by year’s end, up from 276 million before the war. Here in the United States, more than 38 million people are food-insecure, and unfortunately that number is expected to rise. Another example is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 15 million globally, including 1 million Americans, with more still dying every day.
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