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 |