Interfaith Working Group on Foreign Assistance letter on Aid Freeze

Dear Speaker Johnson, Minority Leader Jeffries, Majority Leader Thune, and Minority Leader Schumer, 

As members and partners of the Interfaith Working Group on Foreign Assistance, a network of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist organizations working in solidarity with the world’s most vulnerable people, we write to you to express our grave concerns over the sudden order to stop lifesaving foreign assistance work around the globe and the dismantling of USAID. Despite waivers to this blanket freeze being issued, they have been ineffectual in restarting even “life-saving” activities, in part due to all payments being stopped. We ask you to act urgently to work with your colleagues in Congress and with the Administration to unfreeze and restart funding and work on U.S. foreign assistance programs. 

We recognize that all new administrations have the right to review ongoing programs against their policy goals and that such reviews are a standard part of any transition. However, ceasing almost all life-saving humanitarian, peacebuilding, health, and poverty-focused development assistance during such a review is unconscionable and menacing, and inflicts harm on innocent people. Such actions are not in keeping with our nation’s core values and the will of the American people.  

Members of Congress have always shared that moral compass. This includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as a senator spoke strongly in support of U.S. foreign assistance, “Faced with historic deficits and a dangerous national debt, there has been increasing talk of reducing our foreign aid budget. But we need to remember that these international coalitions that we have the opportunity to lead are not just military ones, they can also be humanitarian ones. […] We need to continue this kind of foreign aid investment, but not just in PEPFAR, but in malaria control, vaccine programs and agriculture initiatives so that we can make similar strides in preventing hunger and establishing a healthier global community.”  

Congress’ investment in U.S. foreign assistance has been clear and committed. Our multi-faith community is also committed— committed to the moral obligation to provide food, water, medicine, emergency nutrition and so much more to those affected by poverty, conflict and marginalization around the world, especially children. 

We know the American public understands the importance of this work, too. Privately generated resources fuel faith-based organizations’ work around the world to assist the most vulnerable. But to be very clear, we cannot do this work alone. We cannot match the scope and scale of U.S. government funding, material support, and influence. For decades, faith-based organizations have worked side-by-side with implementers of U.S. government-funded programs, exemplifying public-private cooperation at its best, with genuinely lifesaving results.  

Today more newborns survive to take their first steps. More children survive beyond their critical fifth birthday than ever before. Life expectancy for people living with HIV is much longer and more productive. More people have safe water. More countries are coming out of poverty and becoming U.S. trading partners. The list of successes goes on and on. These partnerships between faith-based organizations and the U.S. government are crucial. But now—right now—we are fielding desperate requests from our local, on-the-ground operations.  

For example, despite claims otherwise, PEPFAR-funded organizations have not received self-executing waivers, which means each implementer needs to hear from grant or contract officers at USAID before resuming any activities and are locked out of the payment management system (PMS) for accessing PEPFAR funds. A major health program in Kenya, serving 28,612 HIV/AIDS and TB patients, 67% women, including 621 children ages 0 -14 yrs and 1,700 adolescents and young adults ages 15-24 yrs, has lost access to critical PEPFAR funding. The set of 14 clinics, founded by Christian faith-based organizations, use PEPFAR funds to provide free care to impoverished people and tests 2,500 clients monthly. They cannot pay staff going forward and they will run out of medication within days. They will begin turning patients away within two weeks, by mid-February. According to the program’s director, “Once we start turning patients away, desperation will set in, patients will lose hope, their health will quickly deteriorate, and there will be a massive number of deaths. The majority of patients will lose confidence in our services, and it will be very difficult to get them to return for treatment even after resumption of funding.” Without daily medication and testing, HIV/AIDS-related deaths and new infections will rise, reversing progress made in epidemic control, educational engagement (i.e., kids going to school), employment rates, and economic stability that has been seen across PEPFAR countries. As for TB, without consistent treatment, people will die and the global threat of antibiotic resistant TB will increase. 

Additionally, it is worth remembering that every modern day president has spoken in favor of America’s commitment to the least of these through U.S. foreign assistance. Every Democrat, every Republican, including President Trump, who said during his last term, “the United States continues to lead the world in humanitarian assistance, including famine prevention and relief, in South Sudan, Somalia, and northern Nigeria and Yemen. We have invested in better health and opportunity all over the world through programs like PEPFAR, which funds AIDS relief, the President’s Malaria Initiative, the Global Health Security Agenda, the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, and the Women Entrepreneurs’ Finance Initiative, part of our commitment to empowering women all across the globe.” 

Congress’ on-going commitment to its power of the purse is vital to this work and to this democracy. We ask that you do not stand by as America’s generosity is vilified. We thank every member of Congress for standing steadfast as together we navigate the challenging days ahead. But no day is more challenging than the one in which a mother must choose which child is fed that day and which will go hungry. 

Sincerely, 

Alliance of Baptists 
American Baptist Home Mission Societies 
American Friends Service Committee 
American Hindu World Service (AHWS) 
Bread for the World 
Bureau des Formations Médicales Agréées du Rwanda, BUFMAR 
Christian Connections for International Health 
Christian Health Association of Liberia 
Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy 
Church World Service 
Clinica Amistad 
Compassionate Co., LLC 
Council on American-Islamic Relations 
Disabled Children’s Fund 
The Episcopal Church 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 
Faiths for Safe Water 
Franciscan Action Network 
Friends Committee on National Legislation 
Helping Hand for Relief & Development 
Hindus for Human Rights 
International Christian Medical and Dental Association 
Isaiah 58 Care Foundation 
Kupenda for the Children 
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns 
Mennonite Central Committee U.S. 
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate 
National Council of Churches 
National Religious Campaign Against Torture 
Pax Christi USA 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Office of Public Witness 
Rapha Medical Clinic 
Reproductive Health Consulting 
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team 
Sojourners 
The Tikvah Centre 
Unemployed and Vulnerable Foundation Trust 
Union for Reform Judaism 
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice 
United Church of Christ 
World Renew 
Zimbabwe YMCA 

CC: All members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate