Candidates for US President have lately proposed spending delays (in the case of Obama) and spending freezes (McCain) that would affect the level of US foreign aid, just as the world is trying to struggling to reach the Millennium Development Goals! Poverty-focused development aid is a miniscule portion of the budget, but the politics of the financial meltdown are causing candidates to re-think their proposals.

What can we do to shore up political support for higher aid levels at this crucial moment? The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently made an appeal
that the financial crisis should not be used as an excuse to withdraw from global engagement, and US advocates are working to clarify for the public the continuing need to increase effective aid.

Advocates are raising the concern publicly while being careful to avoid making foreign assistance more of a football than it is or provoking negative reactions. Whether you are a C3 non-partisan organization, a C4, or some other type, you can get involved! Some of the actions groups are taking include: conveying concern privately to campaign officials; Global AIDS Alliance Fund (GAAF) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) published a commentary on the issue; Global AIDS Alliance Fund is also planning intensive public education in the district represented by Rep. Jim Spratt, to support increasing funds in the budget for all poverty-focused aid (and any readers out there who want to partner in this work let us know!); GAAF is also asking candidates for the Congress to sign a pledge that committs them to providing the full amount authorized for AIDS, TB, and malaria, as well as a National AIDS Strategty for the US; the One Campaign asked its supporters to sign a petition to the candidates; and PHR, Americans for Informed Democracy and others are asking questions of the candidates at public appearances.

Already, this has had results! At an event in New Hampshire on October 13, an activist said to Senator Biden, "we're worried that we'll lose [the $48 billion for AIDS, TB and malaria programs] if you cut foreign assistance," and Biden replied emphatically, "Not on my watch!"

To make that kind of commitment politically sustainable we all need to redouble our public education work, explicitly arguing that financing a response to the economic crisis does not actually require a cut in poverty-focused aid. Commentaries for publication in US newspapers are urgently needed to drive this non-partisan point home, especially from development experts as well as military and economic experts and religious leaders.