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As Chairman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Leahy has been deeply involved in U.S. foreign policy and foreign aid programs.

Vermonters, like most Americans, recognize that events outside our borders can have direct and dramatic consequences for our health and safety.  Isolationism is not an option in a world in which a deadly infectious disease, or a terrorist attack, is only a plane trip away.

Leahy believes that as the wealthiest, most powerful nation in history the U.S. has wide ranging interests and responsibilities around the globe -- from promoting trade and investment to combating terrorism, reducing poverty, protecting the environment, supporting human rights, and broadening understanding between Americans and people of different cultures, religions, races and ethnicities. 

Poverty, greed and ethnic and religious intolerance are among the greatest causes of instability and conflict.  Famine in East Africa, crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia, or the destruction of forests by mining companies in South America, affect the lives of Americans half a world away. More than two billion people earn less than $2 a day and live in appallingly destitute conditions.  As the wealthiest nation, the U.S. has a moral responsibility to help them improve their lives, yet we spend only one percent of our Federal budget on foreign aid -- less than most other industrialized nations on a per capita basis.

Some of the foreign policy/foreign aid initiatives Leahy is most proud of are the Leahy War Victims Fund, which provides medical, vocational and related assistance to civilian victims of war; his work to ban landmines, including the first law in any country to ban the export of these indiscriminate weapons; the "Leahy Law," which prohibits U.S. aid to foreign military and police forces that violate human rights; the infectious disease and neglected diseases initiatives which target malaria, elephantiasis, and other diseases that afflict hundreds of millions of people in tropical countries; and the Amazon Basin Conservation Strategy, a regional initiative to promote conservation of the Amazon rainforest. 

This section of the website provides information to Vermonters about important foreign policy issues and the work Leahy is doing to address them.  Thank you for your interest and please share with the Senator any comments or questions.

Complete List of Foreign Policy Statements and Releases

Iraq and Afghanistan  |  Civilian Victims of War  |  Landmines  |  International Health
Global Environment  |  Human Rights  |  Africa  |  Latin America & the Caribbean
Asia  |  The Middle East  |  Foreign Assistance  |  Other Foreign Policy Issues

 

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