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Dear Board of Directors,

Another wild week in Washington on the foreign policy and political front! Hard to believe the chaos continues.

We however stayed focused on implementing our strategy as we kicked off our Leading Globally Matters Locally campaign. We held back-to-back events on Capitol Hill focused primarily on freshmen outreach. Lots to share about what we heard – mostly good but some red flags ­– and the week definitely reinforced that the strategy we discussed at our board meeting is right on target.

Here’s a recap of what we learned:

FRESHMAN ENGAGEMENT. Our goal with freshman members is always to educate them early and often – since we know they are drinking from a fire hose ­– but many are already on their way to being supporters.

To start with, our Impact 2016 efforts came full circle this week with two orientation breakfasts and our Freshman Hill Day. Two of our co-chairs, Secretaries Tom Ridge and Madeleine Albright, joined us on Capitol Hill for briefings with the freshman class – many of whom we met on the campaign trail as candidates.

* On the House side, Rep. Peter Roskam joined Secretary Ridge to host one-third of the new GOP members. Several of the newly minted lawmakers were former veterans or business leaders and really get our issue. Yet, even with a very supportive crowd, they were looking for answers to the hard questions like: “Which countries should we stop giving aid to?” and “Where is aid wasted and how can we ensure proper oversight?”

* Alongside Secretary Albright, Senator Chris Coons helped host our freshman Democrats breakfast with Senators Maggie Hassan (NH) and Cortez Masto (NV). In addition, new SFRC member Senator Jeff Merkley (OR) attended. Senator Cortez Masto’s staff emailed us immediately after the breakfast wanting to setup another meeting. We might have a few champions in the making!

HILL DAY. Our biggest impact this week was our combined Freshman and Budget Hill Day. With more than 100 USGLC leaders from 40 organizations, we met with close to 80 offices – including nearly every freshman and Budget Committee member. Aside from our State Leaders Summit, this was the largest Hill Day in USGLC history.

* Obamacare repeal first, FY18 second. We learned that the FY18 budget process will be delayed until Republicans decide how to move forward on the repeal of Obamacare. Because of the mechanism Republicans used to “fast track” the repeal, Congress cannot start the FY18 budget resolution until that decision is made. This could delay the 302(b) decision.

* The threat is real. Even our closest friends are voicing their anxiety on our issue. In several meetings, good friends said “I am with you, but my constituents want me to cut foreign aid.” This nervousness reinforces that we can take no one for granted – even our most ardent champions – as we gear up our coordinated coalition campaign. Members of Congress are very nervous.

* But they’re with us. We also heard directly from lawmakers like Senator John Boozman and Rep. Seth Moulton that they are with us, even calling major cuts to international affairs “DOA” – dead on arrival. It was good to hear the champions we have cultivated saying the right things, but we need to turn those words into action. We have our work cut out for us.​

It’s clear that everything on Capitol Hill – from confirmations to appropriations – is moving at a much slower and highly politicized pace. Next, our eyes will be on OMB nominee Rep. Mick Mulvaney’s confirmation – likely next week – and the Administration’s “skinny” budget proposal. Sean Spicer announced just this past Thursday that they could send up their budget framework as soon as within the next few weeks. Once it’s submitted, we know it will box in a lot of GOP legislators.

Last but not least – an important letter from our own Admiral James Stavridis and General Anthony Zinni is circulating to the leadership of the Budget Committees this week calling for no less than current level funding. Very helpful.

We’ll be watching closely as Vice President Pence travels with Secretaries Mattis and Kelly to the Munich Security Conference next weekend.

More soon,
Liz

Liz Schrayer, USGLC

P.S. I hope you saw the op-ed by our other Impact 2016 co-chair, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, on “The Case for Keeping America’s AIDS Relief Plan<http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/opinion/bill-frist-the-case-for-keeping-americas-aids-relief-plan.html>.”