Bread March-April 2014

Joseph Molieri/Bread for the World bread A mountain community in Guatemala is learning how to grow its own food in a greenhouse as part of a long-term development project funded by private, church-related organizations. Poverty-focused development assistance from the U.S. government does work in poor countries like this as well. The Federal Budget Mill It seemed not too long ago that we were talking about the fiscal year 2014 budget. Now that President Barack Obama has submitted his proposed FY 2015 budget, it is worth reviewing the annual budget process–and why it is such a crucial part of Bread’s advocacy work. Simply put, if Congress passes a law to begin or continue a program (an action called authorization), it cannot become a reality unless Congress determines the funding level for it (an action called appropriations). Many of the programs that Bread has successfully advocated for through the annual Offering of Letters and other campaigns need to be funded through the annual federal budget process. Deciphering PFDA Of course, as an anti-hunger organization, Bread is concerned about the specific parts of the budget that touch on hunger and poverty. Bread refers to all of these (See PFDA on page 2) IN THIS ISSUE | Advocacy in Action 3 Bread Slices 4 Member Profile 5 Policy Focus 6 Field Focus 7 BREAD FOR THE WORLD is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad March-April 2014 | www.bread.org ACT NOW! Contact your members of Congress (800-826-3688), and tell them you support robust funding for poverty-focused development assistance programs in all upcoming budget and appropriations negotiations. Recently, President Obama released his budget for fiscal year 2015. While he recommends increasing international development assistance accounts and other vital programs, some reductions in funding for life-saving global health and humanitarian assistance accounts were proposed. We must ensure that Congress enacts higher funding allocations for these accounts in FY 2015.