International Assistance Quotes

One of the most ridiculous defenses of foreign aid is that it is a very small part of our national income. If the average American set fire to a five-dollar bill, it would be an even smaller percentage of his annual income. But everyone would consider him foolish for doing it.

Very large scale disasters, especially those that have occurred in the developing world, have very long recovery periods.

Foreign aid is not something the vast majority of Americans support, but definitely not conservatives.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries on earth. Security issue or no security issue, there would need to be a focus on it.

Foreign aid just doesn't have the constituency that domestic programs do.

When friends are in trouble, America Helps.

We are for aiding our allies by sharing of our material blessings with those nations which share in our fundamental beliefs, but we're against doling out money government to government, creating bureaucracy, if not socialism, all over the world. We set out to help 19 countries. We're helping 107. We've spent 146 billion dollars. With that money, we bought a 2 million dollar yacht for Haile Selassie. We bought dress suits for Greek undertakers, extra wives for Kenya[n] government officials. We bought a thousand TV sets for a place where they have no electricity.

The phenomenal generosity of the United States in its aid budget towards health issues is the best in the world. You can look at that broadly, you can look at it in terms of HIV, the PEPFAR money which came together in a Republican administration with bipartisan support.

Despite the hundreds of non-governmental organizations and the continued outpouring of foreign aid, East Africa remains as a region overwhelmed by extreme poverty.

A nation as such does not give aid to another nation. More precisely, the common citizens of our country, through their taxes, give to the privileged elites of another country. As someone once said: foreign aid is when the poor people of a rich country give money to the rich people of a poor country.

It's really important, obviously, for people to realize that it is a very small percentage, only 1 percent of our total economy, of our total budget, and I think that's important for people to know. But I also know that Americans are very generous and that many, many Americans are proud that their taxpayer dollar has saved lives in Africa through the president's malaria initiative or through PEPFAR, the emergency relief plan for AIDS.

If the money wasted on arms could be used to help the less developed nations, that would probably be a greater blow against the Communist danger than anything else.

There is a lot that happens around the world we cannot control. We cannot stop earthquakes, we cannot prevent droughts, and we cannot prevent all conflict, but when we know where the hungry, the homeless and the sick exist, then we can help.

The developed world should be willing to help [Africa] and support her and make this energy affordable.

Foreign aid does not go to foreign people. Foreign aid goes to foreign despots and dictators.

Foreign aid projects have pumped billions of dollars into the Afghan economy.

Not any amount of aid is going to move Africa forward.

We need prefab housing, we need to repair what can be repaired. We have appealed to the whole world to ship tents and blankets to Pakistan.

I came to Congress on the promise of cutting wasteful government spending. There are plenty of examples of the government playing loose with taxpayer money, but none more so than how we spend our foreign aid dollars.

We should be focused on the Haiti earthquake victims, not on what contracts your company should get, if you're a friend of Bill [Clinton].

Our challenge in this regard will be to broaden the scope of our federal funds in terms of international diplomacy, development aid, and international assistance. Many Latinos in the United States look at Latin America and see trouble brewing.

I do know that it’s important for us to support the Iraqi people, who have shown incredible courage in their desire to live in a free society. And if we ever give up the desire to help people who live in freedom, we will have lost our soul as a nation, as far as I’m concerned.

While the technology revolution has yet to reach far into the households of those in developing countries, this is certainly another area where more developed countries can assist those in the less developed world.

Foreign Aid is like opium. There are withdrawal pains if you remove it.

Your action means that the U.S. government will control what non-governmental recipients of U.S. international family planning assistance do and say with their own funds. You have imposed on the poorest women of the world a halt to information that women in the United States are guaranteed.