Foreign assistance act deserves support
News-Leader (Springfield, MO)
July 24, 2008
When four Boy Scouts died here in the Midwest this year from a tornado, we were shocked and saddened by the tragedy. When 28,000 kids died yesterday from preventable diseases, the world never noticed. That's one child every three seconds.
Thanks to assistance from the United States and others, progress has been made in the fight against poverty. But the global food crisis is threatening to set that back.
We should do more to help. But we must do it better so that the help reaches those who need it most.
Right now, U.S. foreign assistance is carried out by 12 departments, 25 different agencies and almost 60 government offices. Lack of coordination is not only an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars, it fails to maximize the benefits of programs designed to help people in the long-term.
The Global Poverty Act would require the U.S. to develop and implement a coordinated strategy for foreign assistance. The legislation does not establish any new programs or authorize new funding. It's about better stewardship, clarity and accountability for our existing foreign assistance programs.
I urge Senators Bond and McCaskill to cosponsor the Global Poverty Act.
We can't stop tornadoes, but we can prevent the deaths of nameless children.
Mary Ellen Thursby
Springfield
