A Modern Day Marshall Plan
Trump's attack on America's foreign aid programs jeopardizes the lives of millions of people and makes Americans less safe. Foreign aid programs help address the root causes of conflict, such as economic insecurity, hunger, and disease. When we pull back from our commitments to the rest of the world, not only does it endanger the lives of millions of people across the globe, it risks creating real security threats for Americans at home.
Take for example, the amazing strides America made in reducing HIV around the globe. The United States helps support over 20 million people on HIV medicine and has saved over 26 million lives through programs like PEPFAR. PEPFAR assistance has also helped build critical public health functions that have been deployed to fight outbreaks, like Ebola, that have the potential to spread to the United States. Today, the Trump administration is using foreign aid for HIV as a bargaining tool to extract resources from countries in Africa. This is morally disgraceful, antithetical to the purpose of these programs, and risks the safety of Americans.
I'm running for Congress to challenge the bipartisan consensus for war in Washington and end our militarized foreign policy. Instead of using our military might to force other countries to do our bidding, we must build alliances by supporting their development. In Congress, I will fight to restore funding to USAID and hold the Trump administration accountable for gutting our foreign aid programs. And I will go beyond that to fight for a modern day Marshall Plan that helps developing nations around the world. After World War 2, we helped Europe rebuild through the Marshall Plan, which led to our strongest and longest lasting alliances. We should use that same playbook to help nations today develop clean, high-wage economies and achieve economic sovereignty.