Media CenterCRS: Proposed Funding Bill "Is Inconsistent with American Values and Interests"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Robyn Fieser
Catholic Relief Services
[email protected]
+1 646 648 3916

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, July 1, 2024 – Bill O’Keefe, executive vice president for Mission, Mobilization and Advocacy at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), issued the following statement in response to the passage of the House of Representative’s Fiscal Year 2025 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill:

“We were disappointed in the disproportionately low allocation provided to the State and Foreign Operations subcommittee for Fiscal Year 2025. We are further alarmed by the steep cuts to life-saving foreign assistance in the House-passed bill. The substantial reductions to critical humanitarian and development accounts, in some cases by roughly 25%, would have dire consequences for millions of families facing hunger, humanitarian crises and infectious diseases.

The bill also fails to invest in climate adaptation, despite the moral, economic and security benefits of enhancing resilience to severe weather shocks like droughts, flooding and extreme heatwaves. In our country and worldwide, these shocks have severely impacted self-sufficiency, food production and livelihoods for the most vulnerable communities around the world. These impacts are projected to worsen substantially over time.

While we appreciate the strong funding levels approved for a select few accounts such as nutrition and malaria, deprioritizing overall humanitarian and development funding is inconsistent with American values and interests. The U.S. must get serious about combating global poverty by funding effective foreign assistance programs we know support people, families and communities to thrive.

We will collaborate with Congress on a bipartisan bill that robustly funds humanitarian and development programming and provides a courageous response to the challenges facing our global family. The U.S. has long been a force for good around the world, and CRS is committed to supporting the passage of a bill that reflects that history.”

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Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency alleviates suffering and provides assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. For more information, visit www.crs.org or www.crsespanol.org and follow Catholic Relief Services on social media in English at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube; and in Spanish at: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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