Continued Cuts to Development and Diplomacy Ignores Calls from Military Leaders  

Washington, DC — The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition released the following statement on the House Appropriations Subcommittee for State and Foreign Operations approval of $40.6 billion for FY 2014 from National Security Advisory Committee Co-Chairs General Michael Hagee, USMC (Ret.) and Admiral James Loy, USCG (Ret.):

“As we said in our testimony before this Subcommittee in March, ‘U.S. military strength is not sufficient to defend America’s security, protect our most vital national interests, sustain and bolster economic growth and, in particular, address the deep-rooted causes of violence and instability around the world.’ The dramatic and disproportionate cuts to this year’s foreign assistance bill in the House is of grave concern, putting our security at risk by curbing our ability to respond to urgent challenges throughout the world, including unrest in the Middle East and the refugee crisis in Syria.

“While we understand the need to tighten our fiscal belts due to the current economic situation, the International Affairs Budget has already been cut by 20% in just three years.  Too much is at stake to diminish U.S. global leadership and competitiveness in a world that is only growing more interconnected and interdependent – as well as more turbulent – every day.

“We are pleased the bill protects funding for areas such as international security assistance and embassy security, but the dramatic reductions to multilateral assistance greatly hinders our ability to leverage our scarce resources with funding from our partners in other nations.”

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (www.usglc.org) is a broad-based influential network of 400 businesses and NGOs; national security and foreign policy experts; and business, faith-based, academic and community leaders in all 50 states who support a smart power approach of elevating development and diplomacy alongside defense in order to build a better, safer world. 

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