April 19, 2012

www.interaction.org

Contacts: Sue Pleming: 202.552.6561 or 202.341.3814 (Cell) or spleming@interaction.org Jeanne Paradis: 202.552.6535 or 202.297.1696 (Cell) or jparadis@interaction.org

Humanitarian NGOs pleased with Senate allocation

InterAction is pleased the Senate Appropriations Committee, by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 17-2, approved spending allocations today that would maintain spending for international diplomacy and development at current FY2012 levels. In addition, we applaud the shift of funding authority from Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) back to the base budget ($49.8 billion). We are hopeful the overall allocation of $53.017 billion will provide space for the Senate Appropriations State, Foreign Operations subcommittee to protect strong investments in international development and humanitarian assistance programs, said Samuel A. Worthington, President and CEO of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S. based international NGOs. We recognize that todays current budget realities make it difficult to fully represent American compassion toward people around the world in extreme poverty or recovering from natural disasters and conflicts. However, we are grateful to Chairman Inouye and Senators Cochran, Leahy, and Graham for a Senate allocation which protects vital U.S. international civilian engagement and maintains U.S. leadership in the world within tight fiscal constraints. We urge the House of Representatives to follow this example of bipartisanship in the Senate as they take up spending bills for these critical accounts in the near future, added Worthington.

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InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations, with more than 190 members. Our members operate in every developing country, working with local communities to overcome poverty and suffering by helping to improve their quality of life. Visit www.interaction.org
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