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[DATE OF VISIT]

Protect Poverty-Reducing International Assistance

Thank you for meeting with us. As Congress continues to work on the Fiscal Year 2018 budget and appropriations process, we urge you to protect poverty-focused international development and humanitarian aid. International assistancefunds life-saving and poverty alleviatingprogramming such as education, agricultural development, water and sanitation, and more. These programs not only save lives, but also foster good will, push back against poverty, and offer stability to communities suffering from violence.

Pope Francis has emphasized that human dignity and the common good should dictate economic policies. Rather than balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable members of society, we should consider the budget a moral document and prioritize the poor and marginalized.

  • Thank you for largely protecting international assistance in the FY 2017 omnibus; in particular, thank you for responding to the urgent cries from 20 million people suffering famine-like conditions in Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria and South Sudan.
  • As Catholics, we believe there is a moral obligation to provide assistance to the poor. Last year alone, CRS served more than 120 million people in 112 countries. As a privileged agent of the common good and the world’s wealthiest nation, the United States government has the responsibility and capacity to address the needs of the poor to prevent conflict, promote opportunity, and keep America safe. We urge you to protect international assistance in the Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations, particularly the accounts enumerated in the attached chart.
  • Global challenges demand United States engagement and leadership.Today, more people have been forced from their homes by war, poverty, and climate change than ever before. Some 65 million people have been forcibly displaced– including nearly 5 million Syrian refugees. US government-funded programming is critical because it fosters good will, saves lives, mitigates conflict, and lifts people out of poverty. For example, US-funded programming has saved 6 million lives from malaria, enrolled 9 million children into school in Afghanistan, and doubled the incomes of thousands of farmers across Central America. Now is not the time to cut back on United States leadership.
  • US government funds are leveraged with private donations to agencies like CRS. Historically a bipartisan issue, international assistance has broad support across the nation, reflecting our common value of service to others. Catholics in the pews illustrate their support for international assistance by contributing every time we ask. By leveraging these private donations, agencies like CRS can scale up innovative, cost effective programming, and respond quickly to crises. As your constituents, we ask you to remain committed to our values and show support for the poor in funding international assistance.

Your commitment to serve, assist, and protect the poorest and most vulnerable peoplearound the world is very important to us. Please amplify our voices in support of the needs of the hungry, impoverished, and vulnerable.

Thank you for your efforts to address our concerns for the needs of the poor.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Names and Contact Information of all attending the visit.

Catholic Relief Services (crs.org) and the Office of International Justice & Peace, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (usccb.org/about/international-justice-and-peace)

To Those Using this Document:
Additional Read-Ahead/Leave Behind Resource:

***Consider printing our USCCB/CRS Letter and Appropriations Requests Chart-State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs from our CCGP Resources.