Judy Arbogast, Olalla Published 3:21 p.m. PT April 21, 2020

While it may seem popular to criticize Congress currently, there are many members who are stepping up and working on behalf of constituents amid this global coronavirus pandemic. Thank you to Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell for their work to appropriate funding requests.

One of the current issues is with the foreign operations, which represents less than 1% of the total budget. Programs include Child Health, Bilateral Tuberculosis, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and Global Partnership for Education. It is this section that has helped fund the World Health Organization, whose job it is to convene leaders to make sure that the response is coordinated and evidence-based, and that there is a truly global response to a global pandemic.

Until recently this section of the budget has passed with full bipartisan approval. People know that a healthy, educated world is a more stable, safer world, with fewer conflicts.

The pandemic is moving more people into poverty across the globe. We cannot afford to undo these valuable programs, which are saving millions of lives, ensuring quality education, strengthening democratic values in fragile states, and building trading partners with emerging economies.

Judy Arbogast, Olalla