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The Weekly GAB Friday, May 5, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=d-5DevI5iCh4VjA49GjItg

USGLC in the News

FOREIGN POLICY

In Trump's Plan To Gut Foreign Aid, Battle Lines Drawn Over
Global Women's Issues |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=tUsnvsXdHMymOHEUdeSq5Q

Robbie Gramer and Ruby Mellen

Women's issues remain a heated area for debate in Washington as
the federal budget battle plays out. And there's a crucial
office in the State Department now facing its own existential battle
amid Trump's plans to gut funding for foreign aid and diplomacy.
"It's no secret that investing in women and girls is a
catalyst and creates ripple effects across entire communities and
countries," said Liz Schrayer, president and CEO of the U.S.
Global Leadership Coalition, a Washington-based nonprofit. She cited
studies that found a 10 percent increase in female school attendance
correlates with a 3 percent rise in GDP.

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Foreign Aid Boosts Security, US Economy

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Ukx0Cakx2Ramyf2Io2eOdQ

E.J. Thomas, President and CEO, Habitat for Humanity-MidOhio

Having served in the military for 32 years, I know our country's
diplomatic and development programs provide extensive counterterrorism
and counterinsurgency assistance to countries of high-priority for
national security, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and
Yemen. Simply put, investments in development and diplomacy reduce the
burdens on our men and women in uniform and diminish the likelihood of
costly military involvement. That is why I urge Sens. Rob Portman and
Sherrod Brown, and the rest of the Ohio congressional delegation to
seriously consider maintaining current funding levels for the
international affairs budget.

DEVEX
Budget Bill Puts Congress in US Aid Driver's Seat |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=BhUAUWLE1_9h6_ncxNUWqA

Michael Igoe

Late Sunday night, the United States Congress agreed to a budget deal
to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year
and avoid a government shutdown. "The funding for the State
Department and USAID demonstrates strong bipartisan support as
negotiations move forward on next year's budget, particularly as
proposals surface that would pull America back from the world,"
Liz Schrayer, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Global
Leadership Coalition, said in a statement.

Who's in the News

TIME
How to Keep America Safe
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=oPDvpqki7AK04z0c6Hzd6Q

Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Foreign aid is often in the hot seat, but today the heat is cranked up
especially high. The U.S. government, one of the world's most
influential donors, is considering dramatic cuts to health and
development programs around the world. I understand why some Americans
watch their tax dollars going overseas and wonder why we're not
spending them at home. Here's my answer: These projects keep Americans
safe. And by promoting health, security and economic opportunity, they
stabilize vulnerable parts of the world.

ABC NEWS

A Desperate Plea for Help as 4 African Nations Near a Famine Crisis |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=wLqpvNHEb8KzVYu7xn7waA

Christine Romo, David Muir, and Enjoli Francis

ABC News anchor David Muir and his team traveled with Carolyn Miles,
the CEO of Save the Children, as the organization sent mobile clinics
to isolated villages deep in the deserts of Somaliland. There they
found a little boy, so weak he could not stand. A band was placed on
his arm to measure his level of malnutrition. His result was in the
red, signaling severe acute malnutrition. "It's one of the worst
crises that we've seen since World War II," Miles said. "I don't think
the world has really woken up to this disaster at this point. They
haven't realized what's happening - the possibility of four
famines at once."

Development & Diplomacy

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Foreign Aid: A Waste of Money or an Aid to World Stability? Here Are
the Facts |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=qDbKXYhhnggZ4RJcKlyAzA

Ann M. Simmons

It has long been a divisive issue: how much money the United States
gives to foreign nations in aid, what kind of effect development
assistance actually has on recipient nations, and whether America
should be involved in the aid-giving business at all. Advocates of
foreign aid say programs backed by U.S. funding help feed the needy,
promote social and economic progress, and foster political stability.
Critics, on the other hand, point to fraud and the misuse of aid,
inadequate tracking of provisions, and the prospect of nations
becoming dependent on U.S. handouts. So what's true and
what's false about one of politics' most contentious
issues?

THE HILL
The Business Case for the State Department

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=SBKRG-y_ecFxoYINVJ6uzA

Brett Bruen, President of the Global Situation Room and former
diplomat

Now comes word that on top of a nearly 30 percent proposed reduction
in its budget, Secretary Rex Tillerson will announce Tuesday a cut of
close to 10 percent of the diplomatic workforce. My former colleagues
and outside experts are putting forward a very cogent case for
diplomacy's value in ensuring our national security and
prosperity. Yet, those arguments aren't resonating with the new
administration. President Trump and Tillerson are businessmen. So,
gentlemen, here's a short business case for the State Department.

FORBES

Trump to Cut Foreign Aid Budgets, Opening South and Central Asia's
Door to Chinese Influence |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=H1krwWYtiYIY3H7ta0tRSg

Alyssa Ayres

It looks like U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to reduce the foreign
aid budget will come at a cost to his administration's other aims in
South and Central Asia. Some of the cuts come as no surprise as they
target programs, like climate change, that the president came into
office determined to roll back. But others will undermine stated
administration priorities, such as regional counterterrorism and
cooperation with India. Moreover, at a time of massive Chinese
assistance flooding the region, savings achieved through scrounging
comparatively small levels of assistance will leave Washington with a
shrunken profile and a shallower footprint.

LOBELOG
Dismantling USAID |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=T-CMpDSC7p1jSSP1AHOVIQ

Diana Ohlbaum

To put it simply: consolidation of USAID into the State Department is,
and always has been, a power play, not a cost-cutting measure.
It's not about making aid more efficient or effective.
It's about making aid more political. Development and diplomacy
require different types of knowledge, training, and experience, and
they produce different organizational cultures. The State Department
focuses on short-term political gains that often can be measured in
weeks or months; USAID seeks economic and social transformation that
can take decades.

FOREIGN POLICY

Ivanka Trump Wants to Highlight the Humanitarian Crises Her Father
Ignores |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=J8hDf9WJNTlnVI75Ah03CQ

Colum Lynch

Ivanka Trump's White House résumé will soon include famine and
the Syrian humanitarian crisis. The first daughter scheduled an
unannounced meeting Thursday at the White House with Nikki Haley, the
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to explore ways to address some
of the world's worst humanitarian crises, including looming
famines from Somalia to Yemen and aid blockades in Syria. The
collaboration by two of the administration's most influential
women signaled an intent to raise the profile of American support for
humanitarian relief around the world at a time when President Donald
Trump's budget advisors have been calling for steep financial
cuts in foreign aid.

THE WASHINGTON POST

What Rex Tillerson Gets Right About American Values - And What
He Gets Wrong |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=8P8BsttweCT56_3q3T0iNQ

The Editorial Board

It was reassuring to hear Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tell his
department on Wednesday that "guiding all of our foreign policy
actions are our fundamental values: our values around freedom, human
dignity, the way people are treated." President Trump's
rhetoric at times has put that basic principle in doubt. Less
reassuring was Mr. Tillerson's explanation of how the principle
would be put into practice. When he followed his general explanation
with an exhaustive tour of the world that did not mention human rights
or values anywhere - not in North Korea, China, Russia, the
Middle East or South America - he raised the question of how
much his guiding principle will matter.

POLITICO
Trump's USAID Pick Stuck in the Mud |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=dKbXhVYlIuPqW85K1lSX0w

Ian Kullgren, Daniel Lippman, and Josh Gerstein

Former GOP Rep. Mark Green is the Trump administration's
expected pick to lead the United States Agency for International
Development, but has struggled to close a deal with the Trump
administration, according to four sources with knowledge of the talks.
For weeks, Green has been the sole candidate to lead USAID, the agency
that sends help to foreign countries in times of disaster. And he is
seeking promises that Trump won't dismantle USAID or make it a
subsidiary of the State Department, a move that's feared by
people in international development circles as a way to sideline
foreign aid.

Politics & Foreign Policy

ROLL CALL
Omnibus Agreement Details $1 Trillion in FY 2017 Spending |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=sGj5ROISBPEtXRlsPaWg1g

Ryan McCrimmon

House and Senate appropriators early Monday morning unveiled the text
of an omnibus spending bill to fund the government for the rest of the
fiscal year, a more than $1 trillion package that funnels extra money
to the military but rejects many of President Donald Trump's
other signature spending proposals. The omnibus provides an annualized
total of $1.07 trillion in base spending for fiscal 2017, or $1.16
trillion including Overseas Contingency Operations funding. The
legislation also includes: $990 million in emergency famine relief,
including $300 million for Food For Peace in war-torn South Sudan,
Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.

THE NEW YORKER

Trump's NAFTA Reversal Confirms the Globalists Are in Charge - for Now
|

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=LgY22CY_VAsuVvhNu9NoGA

John Cassidy

On Thursday morning, Trump confirmed that he wouldn't be signing
the executive order. "I received calls from the President of
Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada asking to renegotiate nafta
rather than terminate. I agreed," he tweeted. To those concerned
about the Trump Administration's unpredictable unilateralist
tendencies, this decision came as a relief. But how close did Trump
get to taking a deeply irresponsible action? And what does this
incident portend about where power lies in the White House?

THE WASHINGTON POST
Trump Is Turning Other Countries Against the United States |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=kwvf5IO-YLI5ocopm4xltQ

Fareed Zakaria

There has been much focus on President Trump's erratic foreign
policy - the outlandish positions, the many flip-flops, the
mistakes. But far more damaging in the long run might be what some
have termed the Trump effect: his impact on the domestic politics of
other countries. That effect appears to be powerful, negative and
enduring. It could undermine decades of U.S. foreign policy
successes...Great statesmen always keep in mind one crucial reality:
Every country has its own domestic politics. Crude rhetoric,
outlandish demands, poorly thought-through policies and cheap shots
all place foreign leaders in a box. They can't be perceived as
surrendering to the United States, and certainly not to a nation led
by someone who is determined to show that for the United States to
win, others must lose.


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