Editor,

The annual budget for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is about $50 billion. Sound like a lot? It is less than two-thousandths of our Gross Domestic Product. With this modest budget, USAID funds many life-saving projects around the world. It funds the PEPFAR program started by President Bush, which has saved 26 million lives and counting. It funds food aid for mothers and infants, saving lives and building allies. It even supports US farmers, purchasing over $2 billion a year of U.S. soybeans, rice and wheat.

Now, an un-elected billionaire is bent on destroying USAID because…efficiency? Are we willing to accept increased starvation, disease and misery, because we want to save a few proverbial pennies? If this were about efficiency, we would improve the delivery of aid, not destroy it. Cutting USAID is short-sighted, greedy, and unsafe. As Americans, we can and must value generosity over greed, and unfreeze funding for USAID.

Linda Irvine

Langley