U.S. Ambassadors Urge Congress to Fund Educational and Cultural Exchange Programs
More than 160 Former U.S. Ambassadors Oppose Cutting Funding for State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
More than 160 Former U.S. Ambassadors Oppose Cutting Funding for State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Statement by Ilir Zherka, Executive Director of the Alliance for Internatioanl Exchange:
President Trump’s new policies towards Cuba includes a detrimental restriction for Americans traveling to the island for educational purposes. The administration’s argument for cancelling this travel category is the erroneous assumption that people-to-people exchanges do not help the Cuban people and instead only benefits the Cuban government.
For Immediate Release
Contact: 202-293-6141
Fate of Educational and Cultural Exchange Programs Rests with Congress
Washington, DC (May 23, 2017) – The budget released today by President Donald Trump proposes an unprecedented cut of 32 percent to the International Affairs budget, and a 55 percent cut to the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) specifically. ECA funds and oversees a wide range of critical international exchange programs which enable people-to-people diplomacy.
The Trump administration has proposed cuts in FY18 of 28 percent to the State Department, with much deeper cuts likely to the Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs, and a significant narrowing of the types of exchange programs our country supports. If enacted into law, these combined changes would greatly harm our nation’s public diplomacy efforts and, ultimately, our national security and economy.
POLITICO’s coverage of the Au Pair Program (“They Think We Are Slaves,” March 27) was surprisingly one-sided. While any report of an au pair having a less than positive stay in America is troubling, one would get the impression from your story that this is the rule rather than the exception.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Oriana Pina
202-293-6141