Despite a government shutdown, it’s time for U.S.-funded international organizations — and members of Congress — to speak up about their humanitarian and development priorities, according to Christy Gleason, chief policy officer at Save the Children US.
“As I think we've all learned this year, we are not going to go back to what the 2023 budget looked like, or the 2021 budget looked like in that form,” she said during a Devex Impact House event on the sidelines of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meetings earlier this month. “But I look at this process as an opportunity to start to reset the table for what can come.”
Still, she added, to say she was optimistic “would be a stretch.” Unlike in years past, this time around, there has not been much input from members of Congress on the foreign assistance budget or the direction of aid work being undertaken by the U.S. State Department, which has absorbed what little remains of USAID.