The U.S. Congress will soon consider the Fiscal Year 2012 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which funds the several U.S. programs that aid Tibetans inside Tibet and in exile.

For two decades, Congress has been the vanguard of promoting the rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people. One of the most important and tangible expressions of this support has been to establish several programs that help Tibetans maintain their distinct cultural and religious identity. While all of these programs are successfully implemented by the State Department and other agencies, Congress must act each year to fund them through its annual appropriations process.

The debt ceiling deal just approved in Washington will likely force severe cuts to the international affairs budget. While Tibet programs are only a tiny proportion of this funding, their value spans well beyond their modest cost. From assisting Tibetan refugees in exile to broadcasting Tibetan language radio service inside Tibet, U.S. programs strengthen Tibetan communities and reassure them that America supports their cause.

Your voice is critical in this process. To help prevent Tibet programs from getting chopped by the budget axe, your Members of Congress need to hear that Tibet is personally important to you, and that these programs are a minimal-cost, high-yield investment to help preserve the Tibetan identity.   

E-mail your Representative and Senator and ask them to support the following Tibet programs when Congress considers the Foreign Operations bill:

• Humanitarian aid for Tibetan refugees ($2.5 million);
• Sustainable development inside Tibet ($7.4 million);
• Tibetan broadcasts through Radio Free Asia/Voice of America (full funding);
• Tibetan scholarship program ($750,000);
• Tibetan cultural and academic exchanges ($650,000);
• National Endowment for Democracy grants ($250,000); and
• Office of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues ($1 million).

Please take a moment to contact your Representative and Senator in support of the Tibet programs in the annual Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.