Foreign aid needed for Latin, South America

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 4:53PM
Staff in Congress, House Foreign Affairs Committee, foreign aid, sen. menendez, socioeconomic status

Inequality of wealth in Latin and South America is among the worst in the world said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in a hearing today. He said that the richest 20 percent in Latin America accumulate about 57 percent of the wealth. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) agreed, saying that Brazil, the 11th largest economy worldwide, includes 35 million people living in extreme poverty.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee met to discuss the need of foreign aid given to Latin and South America. Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) said that this issue has gotten "not enough attention" from Congress. Menendez echoed Payne's sentiment saying, "Overall engagement outside of our borders has been controversial to disastrous."

Beyond inequality of wealth, members of the committee said there were more reasons to aid these countries. Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said that foreign aid could have a direct result on current immigration issues. Sen. Menendez said that foreign aid to these areas would create more customers for the United States' economic goods.

Article originally appeared on Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media (http://www.talkradionews.com/).