Usaidadmin Public Statement Final

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:

Tawana Jacobs, 202-552-6534 (Office), 202-297-1696 (Cell), [email protected] Nasserie Carew, 202-552-6561 (Office), 202-341-3814 (Cell), [email protected]

CONGRESS SHOULD MOVE SWIFTLY WITH “UP OR DOWN VOTE” ON USAID APPOINTMENT STATEMENT FROM SAMUEL A. WORTHINGTON, INTERACTION PRESIDENT & CEO

Washington, DC (May XX, 2009)—“Ambassador Wendy Sherman brings extensive foreign policy experience, management expertise, and a life-long commitment to public service to the position of Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). InterAction welcomes the opportunity to strengthen the partnership between USAID and the U.S. NGO community under her leadership. We will work with Ambassador Sherman as the United States engages with the world’s poor and works to address priority challenges that know no borders, like extreme poverty, climate change, the global economic crisis, and humanitarian emergencies. InterAction urges the Senate to move swiftly with regard to this appointment, and to Ambassador Sherman an ‘up or down vote’ as soon as possible. We also encourage President Obama to make the USAID Administrator a member of the National Security Council. Given that U.S. relief and development programs address the root causes of violence and extremism around the world, are critical to achieving U.S. objectives in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Horn of Africa, and will be essential to our response to the global financial crisis—which Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair calls the ‘primary near-term security concern of the United States’— Ambassador Sherman ought to be a member of the NSC.”

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Visit http://www.interaction.org/advocacy to read the full text of InterAction’s recent letter to President Obama calling for him to name a USAID Administrator and more about the 2010 budget. InterAction is the largest alliance US-based nongovernmental international humanitarian relief and development organizations with more than 175 members. Our members operate in every developing country, working with local communities to overcome poverty and suffering by helping to improve their quality of life.