WASHINGTON – The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s President and CEO Liz Schrayer released the following statement on the draft 302(b) allocation for the House FY18 State-Foreign Operations spending bill:

Given the range of global threats from famines to North Korea to unrest in the Middle East, the deep and disproportionate cuts to America’s civilian forces proposed by the House would simply make our nation less safe. If it’s signed into law, we will wake up a few years from now – just like we did in the 1990s – and deeply regret the decisions we made today.

We urge the Senate to support current funding levels for these vital programs. We can’t continue to retreat from the world.

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (www.usglc.org) is a broad-based influential network of 500 businesses and NGOs; national security and foreign policy experts; and business, faith-based, academic, military, and community leaders in all 50 states who support strategic investments to elevate development and diplomacy alongside defense in order to build a better, safer world.