Letter: Congress must reject cuts to foreign aid
In this photo taken Monday, March 13, 2017, Iman Diing, 20, center, holds her 13-month-old baby daughter Alakaii at a UNICEF-supported outpatient therapeutic program for the malnourished, near Aweil, in South Sudan. The world's largest humanitarian crisis in 70 years has been declared in three African countries on the brink of famine, just as President Donald Trump's proposed foreign aid cuts threaten to pull the United States back from its historic role as the world's top emergency donor. (Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin/UNICEF via AP)
Just like last year, the White House has released a national budget proposal that drastically slashes foreign aid. What does this money do? For starters: it ensures that millions of people get treatment for tuberculosis, which is currently the world’s biggest infectious killer. It helps babies get the medical care and nutrition they need to grow into healthy kids. It gives girls a chance to go to school.
Cutting these programs denies millions of people a future. This is not who we are. Congress knows it, which is why they fought back last year to stop the proposed cuts. They must do the same now.
Leslie Danielle Brown, Salt Lake City
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