Menefee supports restoring the funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to pre-rescission levels and to protect it from future cuts. Citing the 18th Congressional District’s legacy of global humanitarianism, Menefee believes that foreign assistance “reflects the compassion and generosity that define the American people.”

Historically, global health programs like PEPFAR, malaria, and TB treatment have received bipartisan support in Congress and widespread support from the American people. Menefee is committed to restoring and strengthening these programs, saying that he will “gladly work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure these programs remain funded and protected.”

Part and parcel of historical U.S. international assistance programming has been in the provision of family planning and reproductive health programs; in the context of Pakein Atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia, an abject lack of prenatal care led to the deaths of six people between 2010 and 2015. Menefee believes that “access to family planning and reproductive health services is vital for women’s empowerment, economic stability, and public health around the world” and that such programs reflect U.S. commitment to human dignity.

Contrary to the view that international assistance is purely altruistic, foreign aid is a useful softpower tool in countering the influence of authoritarianism. In this regard, Menefee has stated his belief that “by promoting democracy, development, and opportunity, we offer an alternative to the coercive influence of regimes like Russia and the People’s Republic of China.”

A4AL proudly stands behind Menefee and his belief that the U.S. has a moral and strategic obligation to lead on issues like pandemics, poverty, and climate change, on the premise that stability abroad strengthens American resilience at home.

“Christian D. Menefee’s demonstrated history and devotion to liberty and justice for all makes him uniquely suited to promoting the restoration and renewal of the U.S. international assistance apparatus,” said Asher Moss, Executive Director of A4AL. 

“When America shows up for others, we strengthen our own security, our economy, and our standing as a global leader. The world looks to us not just for power, but for partnership,” said Christian Menefee. “The 18th Congressional District has a proud legacy of global humanitarianism, and I look forward to carrying on that legacy of compassion.”

 —

The Alliance 4 American Leadership is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to restoring American leadership through smart, strategic, and effective international assistance. Join the movement athttps://a4al.org

###

Alliance 4 American Leadership

5185 MacArthur Blvd, NW

Suite 403

Washington, DC 20016

presssecretary@a4al.org 

https://www.a4al.org 

Treble’s support for the U.S. international assistance apparatus, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of State, the U.S. Peace Corps, and the Institute of Peace, is part and parcel of his campaign’s pillar issues such as healthcare, economy, environment, democracy, innovation, education, and tribal sovereignty.

In the domestic context, the State of Arizona has benefited from e.g. the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Project and the LibrES violence prevention program in El Salvador, wherein Arizona State University was awarded to lead the $80 million and $35 million programs respectively. These programs, among others, create and sustain jobs for faculty, staff, and students, and are used to procure goods and services from Arizona-based vendors and companies.

In the global context, the world has benefited from healthcare programming such as Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) and the Smallpox Eradication Campaign. In the context of economics and environmental programming, global communities have benefited from the Food for Peace Program, the Green Revolution (which saw countries like Mexico become nutritionally independent), and the Tropical Forest & Coral Reef Conservation Act which allowed countries to reduce debt obligations in exchange for commitments to support conservation efforts.

“These investments reinforce American strength abroad and create real economic value here at home,” said Jonathan Treble. “I believe in a foreign policy that is fiscally responsible, results-driven, and laser-focused on keeping Americans safe. I am honored to have A4AL’s endorsement as we work to deliver pragmatic, bipartisan leadership for Arizona.”

“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. Jonathan Treble is likeminded on this important issue, and so A4AL is proud to endorse him for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.”

Formed after the shutdown of USAID, A4AL is a bipartisan PAC dedicated to restoring American leadership through smart, strategic, and effective international assistance. Its political endorsements to date include James Walkinshaw, who recently won his election to become the representative for Virginia-11; former USAID and USDA agriculture scientist Dr. Megan O’Rourke in New Jersey-07; Christina Gagnier in California-40; and Christian Menefee in Texas-18; Erin Petrey in Kentucky-06; and former Ambassador Bridget Brink in Michigan-07.  

With more than 1000 volunteers from 50 states and 80 college campuses, A4AL is on track to mobilize 10,000 advocates by the 2026 midterm elections with the aim of restoring and strengthening U.S. leadership.

 —

The Alliance 4 American Leadership is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to restoring American leadership through smart, strategic, and effective international assistance. Join the movement athttps://a4al.org

###

Alliance 4 American Leadership

5185 MacArthur Blvd NW

Suite 403 

Washington, DC 20016

presssecretary@a4al.org 

https://www.a4al.org 

Ambassador Brink served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion, the first woman to lead an Embassy in a war zone. Over a nearly 30 year career, Ambassador Brink served five U.S. Presidents, both Democratic and Republican, and rose to the rank of Career Minister, a three-start general equivalent.  She is the recipient of the Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Leadership in Expeditionary Diplomacy.  

Over the course of her career, Ambassador Brink helped to end the wars in the Balkans, make progress toward ending the division of Cyprus, and support democratic reforms in Georgia. She served in multiple senior positions at the State Department and was a Director in President Obama’s National Security Council. Ambassador Brink was nominated and confirmed unanimously by the Senate twice, first as Ambassador to the Slovak Republic from 2019 to 2022 and then as Ambassador to Ukraine from 2022 to 2025.

Ambassador Brink has decades of professional experience in how U.S. softpower is a vital tool to advance U.S. national security interests - specifically, to ensure the security, safety, and prosperity of the American people.  

Ambassador Brink believes that the United States must lead with our values and stand together with friends and Allies who share those values - including freedom and democracy - to secure U.S. strategic interests. “Appeasing a dictator never has and never will achieve a lasting peace,” Ambassador Brink said in her campaign announcement, in reference to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “We must stand strong against aggressors, protect democracy, fight for freedom at home and abroad, and be on the right side of history.” 

Formed after the shutdown of USAID, A4AL is a bipartisan PAC dedicated to restoring American leadership through smart, strategic, and effective international assistance. Its political endorsements to date include James Walkinshaw, who recently won his election to become the representative for Virginia-11; former USAID and USDA agriculture scientist Dr. Megan O’Rourke in New Jersey-07; Christina Gagnier in California-40; and Christian Menefee in Texas-18; Erin Petrey in Kentucky-06; and Jonathan Treble in Arizona-01.  

Brandon Loy, A4AL Michigan Field Director, said “as someone who has a passion for grassroots-led politics and international relations, the Alliance has been the perfect home for me for the past half of the year. Working with Ambassador Brink, who witnessed active conflict, for the past few months has exceeded my wildest expectations, and having her come from mid-Michigan means that anyone can work in the field of international relations, a field I wish to work in over my professional career.”

With more than 1000 volunteers from 50 states and 80 college campuses, A4AL is on track to mobilize 10,000 advocates by the 2026 midterm elections with the aim of restoring and strengthening U.S. leadership. 

— 

The Alliance 4 American Leadership is a bipartisan PAC dedicated to restoring American leadership through smart, strategic, and effective international assistance. Join the movement at https://a4al.org.

###

Alliance 4 American Leadership 

5185 MacArthur Blvd 

Suite 403

Washington, DC 

20016 

presssecretary@a4al.org 

https://www.a4al.org

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.”

 —

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 

###

Alliance 4 American Leadership

5185 MacArthur Blvd, NW 

Suite 403

Washington, DC 20006

presssecretary@a4al.org 

https://www.a4al.org 

At Thanksgiving time, you remember Squanto, right? He was the Native American who famously helped the Pilgrim settlers survive the brutal New England winter. He taught the new arrivals how to grow and gather the food that kept them from starving. Commemorated in thousands of Thanksgiving skits, he explained how burying a fish with the corn seeds would increase the early farmers’ yields, bequeathing us in the process the makings of the first Thanksgiving.

You might be less familiar with USAID – the United States Agency for International Development – the government agency where I had the honor to also battle starvation in the villages and slums of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Since readers supported USAID’s work with your tax payments – costing about 1 penny per dollar of federal taxes – I am eternally thankful for your generosity.

What do Squanto and USAID have in common? Well, fish for one thing! Squanto first showed the Pilgrim refugees how to catch New England herring, then how to convert the plentiful fish into fertilizer for their corn. Perhaps channeling Squanto, USAID agriculture experts, doctors, literacy specialists, and engineers have grounded their efforts in the maxim: “Give a person a fish, and you feed the person for a day; teach a person to fish, and the person feeds himself or herself for a lifetime.”

That’s good advice. USAID technical experts, while delivering tons of American-farmer-produced emergency food to keep the starving alive – each sack proudly stamped “From the American People” – simultaneously invested in drought resistant seeds and irrigation systems to increase local farmers’ own production. These investments yielded results. While hunger is still a problem in many countries, driven mainly by war and resulting human displacement, the worldwide child mortality rate dropped nearly 60% over the past thirty years, according to UNICEF. [https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/under-five-mortality/]

At a deeper level, the connection between Squanto and USAID has to do with the abiding generosity of the American people. Raised in a nation blessed with the land, climate and skills to produce more food than we can consume, Americans have always focused on preventing hunger – at home and abroad. This sustained commitment to offer thanks for our agricultural bounty by sharing with those most in need is reflected in President Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation creating Thanksgiving as a holiday, which celebrated the “blessings of fruitful fields.”

This hopeful news about progress against hunger, however, includes some traumatic and heartbreaking twists, which is why I added the word “tragedy” in the title. For Squanto, his efforts to keep the Pilgrims alive, and build bridges with Native Americans, regrettably devolved within decades into King Philip’s War, one of the bloodiest conflicts ever fought in North America.

And USAID, after decades of bipartisan support in the Congress and from Presidents of both parties, came under harsh attack from President Trump and his agent Elon Musk in January of this year. USAID’s good work of decades – not only to show America’s generosity abroad, but in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy, often side-by-side with American troops – was savagely criticized, based on inaccurate accusations.

Musk, acting without Congressional approval, turned USAID into an empty shell. Nearly 95% of its staff, patriotic Americans from all fifty states, who served our country in the harshest environments, were fired. Among the few who were spared this illegal indignity were the 103 of my patriotic colleagues who died in the line of duty battling hunger, disease, and human suffering across the poorer nations of the world.

The results of the attacks on USAID were predictable. Those not wishing our nation well – in Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran – are celebrating the unexpected turn of events, and rushing to take advantage of this ill-considered act of strategic self-mutilation. Children will starve who could have benefitted from even a fraction of America’s food abundance, or die from preventable diseases. Denials in Washington of these facts are inaccurate and abhorrent.

Personally, I will still be celebrating Thanksgiving with family this year; still making a contribution to my local food bank; and still marveling at the generosity of the American people. But, I will also be aware of the particular, and peculiar, tragedy affecting USAID and wounding our country’s historic, incomparable battle against hunger, at home and overseas.

After the holidays, I’ll be checking with my Senators and U.S. Representative to see whether they will fight to re-open USAID, and put the United States 100% back in the fight against world hunger. That would be the right, generous, and American thing to do. And, by the way, I believe Squanto, and the Pilgrims he helped keep alive during our nation’s first food aid program, would agree.

After the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this year, one woman who was fired has found a new space for advocacy work.

“I was out of a job. And so during that period, I was quite in shock, depressed,” said Tina Balin, who is now a policy director at the Alliance for American Leadership.

She was walked out of her job at USAID earlier this year and said she was lost and, “trying to figure out what to do next with my life, because that was more than a job, it was a belief system.”

The Alliance for American Leadership is a bipartisan nonprofit that started in May as a response to the dismantling of USAID.

Executive Director Asher Moss said their goal is to, “pressure Congress to try to restore foreign aid programs.”

“What’s happening now is that people who have long understood the importance of these programs, both for American national security and how we’re viewed around the world, are finally getting the chance to talk with the American people openly about why these programs are critical,” he said.

They now have more than 700 advocates across all 50 states. Balin said she’s grateful for the opportunity to continue advocating for foreign policy.

“I’m happy to have a home here where I can continue to advocate for the need for foreign aid, and explaining why it is such an important issue for Americans — not just our role around the globe, but our (own) growth and prosperity,” she said.

Moss said the alliance is continuing to expand, and that people like Balin are making a difference for the organization.

“Now, it’s just about growing from there. And I think that’s going to be continuing to do our normal outreach, person to person, as well as growing our campus chapters. Just getting to see more people recognizing what the alliance is doing and why it’s important to work together across the aisle on an issue that we all care about as Americans,” he said.

Balin said the organization was put together at the right time. “Right away, I knew I had to be a part of this movement,” she said.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — Tina Balin was one of thousands of people walked out of the door at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) back in February.

"It's certainly a challenge," she said on Wednesday. "You’re right, I’m in a more fortunate situation, but the reality is I’m just like my colleagues, former colleagues, I’ve been searching since February for a job, and the market is saturated."

Her mindset is stronger now than then, but this Montgomery County mom still has a daughter in college and bills to pay.

ALSO READ | Union representing US Capitol Police officers calls for end to government shutdown

"I don’t want to say I’m that set up, but in the sense I’m comfortable, I’m okay for now, but it’s not an easy time for anybody," she said. "We need to pay our bills, but those of us who joined this public service, it really is a calling."

Tina has now turned to the Alliance for American Leadership, which was formed as a direct response to USAID shutting down.

The group is still at it despite the current government shutdown.

Pictures show team members visiting both sides of the aisle in Congress to restore foreign aid.

"We care about this from the lens of it being an issue of wanting America to do the right thing, for America to be secure and America to lead on the world stage," said Asher Moss, executive director of the group, which now has 700 team members.

They hope to have 10,000 by the midterms.

"It’s our duty to help overseas," Tina said. "We’ve spent years building that leadership around the globe, building partnerships around the globe for good overseas and it would be a travesty to see that fall apart now. It’s important because I’m an American above all."

OLD LYME, CT — The Alliance for American Leadership (A4AL) joined Andrea Fenton, formerly of USAID and the Peace Corps, and Mark Miller, a nurse practitioner and public health advocate, to honor former Congressman Sam Gejdenson with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades of service to the United States and the world.

The award ceremony, hosted in Old Lyme, marked the official Connecticut launch of the Alliance and drew more than seventy supporters committed to restoring America’s global leadership through effective international assistance. The event raised over $7,000 to support A4AL’s programs aimed at renewing, restoring, and reimagining U.S. foreign aid.

While the launch introduced A4AL to the state, its central purpose was to recognize Congressman Gejdenson’s lasting impact. Born in a displaced persons camp in Allied-occupied Germany, Gejdenson represented Connecticut’s 2nd District from 1981 to 2001. During his tenure, he championed causes that strengthened America’s global reach and moral standing — restoring funding to the United Nations Population Fund, advancing anti-trafficking legislation, and initiating U.S. support for UNAIDS, a program that has helped save more than 26 million lives worldwide.

Speakers throughout the evening reflected on leadership, American values, and the power of compassion-driven service.

“Leadership is about trust,” said Mark Miller, a nurse practitioner and health advocate. “In healthcare, trust isn’t a slogan — it’s the difference between chaos and coordination, between fear and recovery. It’s built one decision, one conversation, one act of integrity at a time. That same trust is what’s missing in public life today. That’s why I believe in the Alliance for American Leadership — because it stands for principled, informed, and service-minded leadership.”

Asher Moss, Executive Director of A4AL, contrasted that leadership with recent policy changes. 

“As a nation, we made a conscious decision to shut down USAID this year,” said Asher Moss, Executive Director of A4AL. “That meant cutting off food, medicine, and life-saving care to 120 million people. It meant allowing 500 tons of American crops to be destroyed instead of feeding families in Yemen and Sudan. That’s not American leadership — it’s a moral failure. If we do nothing, 14 million people could die over the next five years. That’s why we’re here — to act, to lead, and to remind the world what America stands for.”

Victoria Ayer, who once served on Gejdenson’s staff, recalled his enduring belief in service: “Sam believes in the best of what America can be. We worked on Medicare for All, we helped build the East Coast Greenway, and we restored funding to the UN Population Fund. What truly makes this country great is our empathy and compassion for others.”

When it came time for Congressman Gejdenson to speak, he shared a story that captured the ripple effect of American generosity.

“In Ghana, a woman borrowed about $100 through a microloan program we started,” Gejdenson said. “She bought a sewing machine, then a stove, then plastic flowers — and before long, she had 50 employees making flowers for weddings and funerals. The U.S. investment was under $300. That’s what American assistance can do — it transforms lives.”

He continued: “It’s hard to get people to see why we should help others. Forget that it’s the right thing to do — it’s also smart. Disease anywhere becomes disease everywhere. Hunger abroad breeds instability at home. We need to remind Americans that compassion is not weakness; it’s strength. And rebuilding that understanding starts at the grassroots level — it starts with groups like A4AL.”

The Alliance for American Leadership was honored to recognize Congressman Gejdenson’s decades of service and his relentless commitment to a more compassionate, secure, and principled America.

—

About the Alliance for American Leadership (A4AL)

Formed after the shutdown of USAID, the Alliance for American Leadership is a nonpartisan coalition dedicated to restoring American leadership through smart, strategic, and effective international assistance.

Join the movement at https://A4AL.org

Food Insecurity breeds national insecurity: The World Food Program USA launched the emergency-relief-fund in March of 2025 in an effort to raise more than $25 million in private sector and individual donor support in the United States to help fill funding gaps for WFP programs that provide lifesaving assistance to 58 million people on the brink of starvation. However, food insecurity persists in politically volatile countries such as Haiti. For example, the WFP warned in October that rising violence by armed groups in Haiti’s capital is restricting humanitarian access and pushing families deeper into hunger as extreme funding shortfalls. A staggering 1.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes in search of food and shelter, wfp.org/news. Haiti is the only country in the Americas, and one of only five countries globally, with people facing catastrophic (www.ipcinfo.org) levels of hunger equivalent to famine-like conditions. It remains one of the world’s most severe food crises with 5.7 million people facing acute food insecurity. In Kenya, WFP food rations provided to 720,000 refugees has decreased significantly, only amounting to a mere 28% of a standard ration by June, refugees-kenya.  

In Nigeria, WFP reports that no fewer than 1.3 million people in the northeastern part of the country are at risk of being deprived of food aid, and 150 nutrition centres serving 300,000 children could close, unric.org. Both countries face a range of national security threats in the shape of armed terrorist activity, cybersecurity threats and political violence which places at risk humanitarian workers on the ground, many of whom are American staffers. Additionally, such national security threats could easily escalate into threats to American security. 

Donor countries replicate US aid retreat: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is working under a severely reduced budget and forced to prioritise to serve those caught up in the deadliest humanitarian crisis. Choosing between which war and which climate-induced disaster is worse in order to inform intervention strategies has been a heartwrenching process as it erodes against the core mission and focus of the OCHA which is to save all lives, at risk in diverse humanitarian disasters. OCHA announced that it was seeking $29 billion in funding for 2025,Brutal cuts mean brutal choices warns UN relief chief, launching ‘survival appeal’ | UN News a significant drop from the $44 billion originally requested in December of 2024. Following the dismantling of USAID and replaced by a new US Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance with reduced funding priorities www.politico.com has witnessed a general retreat by donors. This implies that U.S. retreat from humanitarian aid has had a ripple effect on the humanitarian aid priorities of several donor countries at a time when the need for assistance is most acutely felt and experienced by the most vulnerable populations, thenewhumanitarian.org. 

The Policy at Stake: Humanitarian assistance remains a critical form of soft power to monitor and eradicate terrorist threats across the globe. There has to be a review of emerging global security threats assessed through the lens of shrinking humanitarian aid in fragile contexts.   

Recommendation: The Alliance for American Leadership urges Congress to prioritize funding to address food insecurity particularly in politically and economically fragile contexts.

Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sudan_Envoy_-_USAID_and_WFP_Aid.jpg

Earlier this year, the Trump administration, in a move to streamline government, dismantled USAID: the agency that financially supported a variety of humanitarian initiatives around the world.

Researchers are now projecting millions could die worldwide if that foreign aid isn’t restored within several years.

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“It doesn’t make any sense. It’s just not right," said Asher Moss, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Leadership.

Moss decided to form the Alliance for American Leadership: a bipartisan, nonprofit pushing policymakers to resume foreign assistance.

“It’s spending less than 1% of our budget to provide public health, education, governance, antipoverty programs across the world that not only save millions of lives but also make America respected," Moss said.

This coalition, along with advocacy, is also endorsing congressional candidates. Their first, Virginia 11th Congressional District democratic candidate James Walkinshaw, who worked on Capitol Hill for years for that district’s long-time Member of Congress, Gerry Connolly.

Walkinshaw believes the nation has a moral obligation to support those suffering on foreign soil.

“It helps to contain disease outbreaks before they reach American shores and, most importantly, I would say, projects the best of who we are as Americans," said Walkinshaw during A4AL's endorsement announcement.

During a recent forum, Walkinshaw’s Republican opponent, Stewart Whitson, a combat veteran and former FBI special agent, believes restoring fiscal sanity to Washington comes first.

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“So, sometimes we have zeal when anything is happening in another part of the globe that we want to go there and help and that’s not a bad thing, that instinct to do that. That’s actually a good thing. That makes us great people. That makes us Americans. But, as elected leaders, we have to come in and be responsible and think long term and not get driven by emotion and stop and say, 'Wait, is this in America’s best interest,'" Whitson said.

“The root of inefficiency in government is that it tries to do too much, and that has always been the problem," Alex Nowrasteh with the Cato Institute said.

Nowrasteh isn’t convinced that investing billions of dollars abroad serves American purposes.

“The fact that Donald Trump can shut it down at the stroke of a pen means that it was always vulnerable, it will always be vulnerable going forward but it’s much less vulnerable if it’s run by private organizations, which it should be," Nowrasteh said.

Regardless of whether Walkinshaw or Whitson comes out on top in VA-11, the Alliance for American Leadership plans on endorsing both Democrats and Republicans leading into the 2026 midterms.

“I think it’s about bringing people together that might not see eye to eye on every issue but do believe that America should be leading on the world stage and that these foreign aid programs are essential in order to do that," Moss said.