Congress’ swift action to help SL: Appeal to Secy. Blinken, USAID

Ten Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, who are assigned to the Congress’ influential and powerful committees such as Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Overseas Nutrition & Poverty – some of them in the Congressional Sri Lankan Caucus – have taken the lead in their compassionate appeal directly addressing a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and USAID Chief Administrator Samantha Power to urge “to take additional swift action to provide meaningful support to the Sri Lankan people in their time of need,” US based sources said.

Both Blinken and Power – as cabinet members of the Biden Administration – work very closely with the House and Senate Foreign Affairs Committees and have constant and close rapport with Congressional Members working in those committees. Additionally, the USAID coordinates its overseas assistance program with Congressional committees of Agriculture, poverty and nutrition. The significance of the letter is that all the ten signatory House Members occupy the committees that could address the economic plight Sri Lanka is facing at present.

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs jurisdiction includes the Department of State, the Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps, and the United Nations.The Committee has jurisdiction over legislation concerning the administration of the Export Administration Act, including the export and licensing of dual-use equipment and technology and other matters related to international economic policy and concerning the United Nations, its affiliated agencies, and other international organizations.

The rapport and discourse between the ten Members of the US Congress and the US State and AID emerged as a result of the public affairs and diplomatic endeavors of the Sri Lankan expatriates in the State of Nevada using their premier social gathering Sri Lanka America Association of Las Vegas and their national trade, investment and economic chamber, Sri Lanka-America Chamber of Commerce.A spokesperson for the two organizations highlighted the recognition the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Secretary gave to the efforts of the two Sri Lankan expatriate organizations’ in a direct communication.

An outreach communication from Secretary Blinken’s Senior Advisor for Domestic Outreach and Partnership Jennifer Miller to the Association and Chamber Chairman Sanje Sedera said that the State Department “wants to follow up to meet the Sri Lanka team to learn more about your work leading to Sri Lanka America Association of Las Vegas and Sri Lanka American Chamber of Commerce, as well as your current effort to garner support for relief efforts in Sri Lanka.”

The State Department official extended an invitation to meet with the officials of the two organizations, the spokesman said.To Secretary Blinken and USAID administrator Power, the official letter by the Members of the House led by Dina Titus – who chairs the Economic Development and Emergency Management as well as member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Asia-Pacific Sub-Committee – continues to state “We remain deeply concerned by the unprecedented and disastrous economic crisis currently facing Sri Lanka. Circumstances throughout the country are dire with widespread food, fuel, and medicine shortages”.

The letter further brings the dire situation in Sri Lanka stating: “According to the World Food Programme, due to widespread economic issues, three in ten households—or approximately 6.26 million Sri Lankans—are unsure where they will get their next meal. An estimated 60 percent of Sri Lankans are skipping meals to stretch food supplies and hundreds of thousands are being forced to wait in extensive lines to acquire daily necessities. If the current economic situation does not improve soon, some experts warn that the number of those suffering from dangerous food insecurity could rise to one-third of the country’s population”.

The Congressional Members in their letter emphasized “Although we greatly appreciate the $11.75 million in new humanitarian and development assistance that USAID provided at the end of June, more is clearly needed now. We urge USAID to take immediate action to provide additional relief to the Sri Lankan people, including increased food, medical, and fuel aid”.

However, the Congressmen were concerned about the stabilization of Sri Lanka’s democratic system in bringing to the attention of the Biden Administration’s cabinet members in noting “More broadly, we ask the Administration to fully incorporate measures supporting the stabilization of Sri Lanka. This includes advancing efforts to address longstanding issues related to accountability and reconciliation and improving democratic institutions in Sri Lanka to meet our broader foreign policy goals for the region”.

One of the signatories to the letter, Frank Pallone, is the founder-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Sri Lanka, and, another, Congressman James McGovern’s greatest passion is ending hunger at home and abroad being the co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus and sits on the House Subcommittee on Nutrition.

Sri Lankan expatriate efforts, in the past especially during the Covid-19 era, have immensely helped Sri Lanka, a spokesman for the two Nevada organizations referring to the increase of vaccines and raising funds to provide medical equipment and medicines through the North American Medical Association.

The spokesman said that their diplomatic efforts have brought dividends, and the Sri Lanka America Chamber of Commerce – a national organization based in the State of Nevada – is exploring avenues for trade and investments between the two countries when situation settles in Sri Lanka.