Washington, D.C. — Today, President Donald Trump issued a formal recissions request that calls for the United States to significantly pare back lifesaving humanitarian foreign assistance spending, slashing funds for public health, disaster assistance, combating human trafficking, and more. In response, Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Today’s rescissions request from President Trump amounts to an abdication of America’s leadership that will weaken the United States on the world stage. The White House has framed this request as simply going after waste, but it has called to cut cost-effective assistance programs that amount to only a tiny fraction of the federal budget—targeting programs it simply doesn’t like.
These cuts matter here at home, not just abroad. They will result in more deadly diseases that reach American shores. The cuts pose a real danger to the safety and security of the American people, as former aid recipient countries will be less likely to cooperate with the United States on security and intelligence matters. Enacting these rescissions will lead to more deaths and continue the Trump administration’s record of implementing policies that are destroying U.S. credibility around the world.
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