Sec. 1001. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, which affect more than a billion people around the world, are inimical to the achievement of a healthy, peaceful, democratic, just and prosperous world and an affront to shared human values. A principal objective of United States foreign policy is reducing global poverty and its worst physical manifestations through the encouragement and sustained support of the people of developing countries in their efforts to acquire the knowledge and resources essential to building the economic, political, and social institutions that will improve the quality of their lives.
Strengthening democratic governance and the political voice of poor and marginalized groups not only directly combats poverty but also helps build responsive, accountable state institutions essential to sustain the positive impact of foreign assistance over the long-term. United States efforts to reduce global poverty and alleviate human suffering reflect the compassion and generosity of the American people, while also serving United States economic and national security interests.
Poor and unstable countries make unreliable trading partners and weak markets for United States goods and services. Violent extremism that threatens United States national security flourishes where democratic governance is weak, justice is uncertain, and legal avenues for change are in short supply. Complementing the long-term objective of reducing global poverty, the humanitarian concern and tradition of the people of the United States demands a commitment to saving lives and alleviating human suffering resulting from natural and human-caused disasters, and to taking effective action to prevent, prepare for, and mitigate such disasters.
Pursuit of these interrelated objectives requires that development and humanitarian concerns be fully reflected throughout United States foreign policy, and that resources for these purposes be adequately and reliably budgeted and effectively and efficiently utilized. In order to achieve United States foreign policy and national security objectives, the United States should act in concert with other countries and multilateral institutions to mobilize adequate resources from public and private sources for poverty reduction and humanitarian relief.