Petrey has committed to restore and renew the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Institute of Peace, and other essential programming for building and maintaining America’s image, strengthening and promoting democracy, and competing with authoritarianism.
“The more we invest in diplomacy,” Petrey wrote on her campaign’s website, “The less we must invest in the tools of defense and war. America should be a beacon of hope and freedom…Foreign aid–especially in the form of food and medicine–must be restored.”
Citing the late John F. Kennedy, Petrey said “It is both our moral and economic obligation to help those less fortunate. If we don’t, someone else–like China–will.”
An analysis in The Lancet estimated that USAID alone saved 92 million lives over 20 years by combatting diseases like malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis, by improving access and quality of nutrition, and by reducing the number of deaths of children and mothers. Since the dismantling of USAID in January 2025, epidemiologists at Boston University estimated that more than 600,000 people who previously relied on U.S. assistance have died.
In Kentucky’s domestic context, the dismantling of U.S. international assistance programming has closed down markets for Kentucky’s key agricultural products, especially soybeans.
“U.S. humanitarian aid, international assistance, and international development programming historically were less than 1% of the U.S. budget,” said Asher Moss, Executive-Director of A4AL. “These programs provide public health, education, governance, and antipoverty programs across the world that not only save millions of lives but also make America respected. Erin Petrey is likeminded on this important issue, and so A4AL is proud to endorse her for Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District.”
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The Alliance 4 American Leadership is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to restoring American leadership through smart, strategic, and effective international assistance. Join the movement at https://a4al.org
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Alliance 4 American Leadership
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The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Alliance 4 American Leadership (A4AL) alone. Alliance 4 American Leadership would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.
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