Today, 15,000 children will die before reaching their fifth birthday.
Unfortunately, President Joe Biden does not take the lives of these children and others who still lack access to adequate health care seriously enough. President Biden, in his proposed budget, has decreased funding in many important areas including USAID tuberculosis, nutrition, maternal and child health that could prevent these deaths. In addition, USAID greatly improves the economic growth and stability of nations across the world, which in turn advances American prosperity and security.
Luckily, Congress has the ability to make changes to this budget. We urge Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to be more ambitious and increase global health appropriations such as these, so that we can prevent Biden’s funding decreases from being enacted by Congress. We request $1 billion funding for USAID tuberculosis, $300 million for USAID nutrition and $1.012 billion funding for USAID maternal and child health.
As citizens of Battle Ground, we can make a difference in decreasing the number of preventable deaths and work toward a world in which no child lacks access to quality health care.
Helen Rossmiller,
Battle Ground
