I’m also a student at Brigham Young University and have made efforts to mobilize my peers to contact their congressional leaders on issues such as the International Affairs budget and other poverty-reducing bills. Most of the response is positive, but there are also many skeptical voices.

I would like the opportunity to share and address the main concern that I have heard in the past month. The big question is: why fight global poverty, when there is poverty right here in the U.S.?

First; domestic policy and foreign policy are not competing interests. Foreign aid is an investment for our own economy. One out of five jobs is export based. And now 45 percent of our exports go to developing countries, which have increased demand for American-made hygiene products, like Colgate toothpaste.

When we make foreign aid a priority, more job opportunities are created in the United States.

Alisa Mason, Provo