"If you ignore countries that are fragile, poorly governed, with lots of poor and disenfranchised people, then they end up becoming strategic countries that you then have to fight wars in," he said.
"We'd like to see our government investing more in prevention, and in building the capacity of societies to deal with their own problems and in the diplomacy to resolve conflicts without military action."
He noted that the budget proposal keeps "much of the global health funding" like the PEPFAR program to fight AIDS in Africa, O'Keefe said, which is good.
However, the proposal targeted many other programs like the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, which "allows CRS to support basic education in rural school settings," O'Keefe said. The president had said that program "lacks evidence that it is being effectively implemented to reduce food insecurity."
The proposal also touches anti-trafficking programs and anti-gang programs, and the State Department's 60 year-old Food for Peace program would see cuts, CRS noted.
"We understand the budget challenges," O'Keefe insisted, while adding that "you're not going to be able to balance the budget on the one percent that goes to foreign aid," especially since it's already been trimmed disproportionately for the last nine years.
He added that domestic and international anti-poverty programs have "been squeezed" to make room for military spending, which would prioritize short-term goals over long-term stability.
Some domestic programs saw cuts, including "housing and heating for poor people," Beckmann noted, and certain block grants that provide funding for the program Meals on Wheels, a volunteer food delivery program to the elderly.
"How can you cut Meals on Wheels?" Beckmann asked.
The president of the organization, Ellie Hollander, explained what may be at stake in the proposal.
"The problem with a skinny budget is it is lean on details. So, while we don't know the exact impact yet, cuts of any kind to these highly successful and leveraged programs would be a devastating blow to our ability to provide much-needed care for millions of vulnerable seniors in America, which in turn saves billions of dollars in reduced healthcare expenses," Hollander stated.
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Some of the other federal programs the President suggested cutting included the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities and some funding for Meals on Wheels and the National Institutes of Health.
Programs fighting opioid addictions would receive a half-a-billion dollar boost in Trump's plan, however. The Centers for Disease Control has labeled opioid overdoses an epidemic, and said that 33,000 people died from using prescription opioids and heroin in 2015.
Matt Hadro was the political editor at Catholic News Agency through October 2021. He previously worked as CNA senior D.C. correspondent and as a press secretary for U.S. Congressman Chris Smith.