Sign on Letter: FY13 Office of Management and Budget
Nov 10, 2011
Dear Director Lew,
As the crisis in the Horn of Africa continues to unfold and we observe increased needs in other humanitarian emergencies, we write to encourage you to include the strongest possible funding for U.S. global humanitarian response in the President’s budget request for FY 2013.
Over 13 million lives hang in the balance in the Horn region and experts anticipate that famine conditions will last for the better part of the next fiscal year. An estimated 30,000 children have already been lost to this crisis with far greater numbers suffering from acute malnutrition. In order to address this dire situation and respond to other crises around the world in FY 2013, the U.S. humanitarian response accounts should be funded at least at FY 2010 enacted levels. This includes Migration and Refugee Assistance ($1.85 billion), International Disaster Assistance ($1.3 billion), and PL 480 Title II Food Assistance ($1.84 billion). We also encourage the administration to fund the Emergency Migration and Refugee Assistance account at its authorized ceiling of $100 million in order to be prepared for unexpected emergencies that inevitably arise each year. Funding for these accounts should not come at the expense of other relief and development accounts that fight poverty and often help prevent the need for emergency spending down the road.
We recognize that the current U.S. fiscal environment is constrained and that difficult choices will be made as the President’s budget is developed. As you make these choices, we hope you will consider the leveraging effects that investments in humanitarian assistance reap. Strong U.S. humanitarian assistance encourages other donors to step up and commit resources to addressing crises around the world, meaning that spending burdens are shared and more lives are saved. U.S. investment also signals to countries supporting refugee populations—most of which are poor and struggle to provide for their own citizens—that they are supported in their efforts to shelter people who cannot go home. Furthermore, timely and robust U.S. humanitarian assistance ensures that humanitarian emergencies do not spiral out of control into more destabilizing and costly events.
We also hope that you will consider the strong support that exists among the American public for U.S. involvement in addressing humanitarian crises. Not only has the public been in support of providing assistance to people in need around the world, but these efforts have consistently received bipartisan support in Congress as well.
For all of these reasons, we respectfully request that you strengthen and expedite the approval of humanitarian funding as the appropriations process moves forward. The most vulnerable people in the Horn of Africa and around the world depend on it.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Action Against Hunger – ACF International
ActionAid USA
Adventist Development and Relief Agency
(ADRA) International
Alliance for Peacebuilding
American JewishWorld Service (AJWS)
American Refugee Committee
AMURT
CARE USA
ChildFund International
CHF International
Church World Service
Concern Worldwide US
Conference ofMajor Superiors ofMen (CMSM)
Congressional Hunger Center
Counterpart International
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Handicap International
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
Helen Keller International
The Hunger Project
International Medical Corps
IRD (International Relief & Development)
International Rescue Committee
Investors Against Genocide
Lions Clubs International
Lutheran World Relief
Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur
Mercy Corps
Pathfinder International
Perkins School for the Blind
Refugees International
Relief International
Save the Children
United Methodist Committee on Relief
Women’s Refugee Commission
Women Thrive Worldwide
World Concern
World Food Program USA
World Relief
World Vision
