Now that funding for fiscal year 2018 has been finalized, Congress has begun work on FY 2019 Appropriations Bills. We’ve been working with allies in the House and Senate on Dear Colleague letters to Members of Congress on the Appropriations Committees that call for robust funding for international basic education. Dan Stoner, the Co-Chair of BEC’s board of directors, has also submitted Outside Witness Testimony on behalf of the Coalition urging Congress to fully fund Basic Education in the fiscal year 2019 budget. In Congressional hearings this week on the Administration’s request for USAID’s budget, Republican and Democratic Members resoundingly spoke out against the proposed cuts that would devastate US development and diplomatic initiatives.