Former Cabinet Secretaries and Senate Majority Leaders Urge All Candidates in TIME Magazine to Strengthen America’s Role in the World: “There could not be a riskier time for America to pull back”

WASHINGTON – With just under one year until Election 2016, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition today launched Impact 2016, a nonpartisan initiative to engage and educate all the presidential and congressional candidates on the critical importance of strengthening American global leadership.

The initiative, co-chaired by Secretaries Tom Ridge and Madeleine Albright and former Senate Majority Leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle, will continue the USGLC’s candidate education and outreach effort, inform voters, host key foreign policy events in early primary states, and track and profile candidates on the initiative’s web site, impact2016.org.

The Impact 2016 co-chairs jointly authored an op-ed in TIME Magazine today announcing the launch:

“We believe that candidates from both parties must demonstrate their commitment to strengthening America’s role in the world with all the available tools… Disproportionate cuts to diplomacy and development funding such as those we have seen in recent years risk weakening our influence in the world… Nothing less than our country’s security, prosperity and leadership are at stake.”

In less than two weeks, the USGLC will host its first Impact 2016 event in Des Moines, Iowa on November 23rd with Senator Joni Ernst, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, and retired Lieutenant General Dan Christman.

In New Hampshire, the USGLC will host a candidate surrogate forum moderated by NH1 News Political Director Paul Steinhauser with keynote remarks from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. A candidate surrogate forum in South Carolina will be announced shortly.

Citing the range of obstacles and opportunities overseas – including the growing Syrian refugee crisis, the ongoing threat of ISIS, and Russian aggression under President Putin – Ridge, Albright, Frist, and Daschle together stressed the importance of American engagement this election:

“The four of us will almost certainly support different candidates in November 2016. But we all agree on this: Our security and prosperity are at risk if America retreats from our leadership responsibilities around the world.”

The initiative’s web site, Impact2016.org, is a go-to resource for voters and journalists to learn more about the candidates’ foreign policy positions. It includes in-depth candidate profiles, quotes, videos, and articles along with continuous updates on what the candidates are saying on the campaign trail.