Secretary Madeleine Albright Makes CARE Pitch for Refugees

Making the case for more refugees to be permitted into the USA, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she has driven across the nation “and it’s a very large country … we have a lot of room.”

She was a key panelist at the Helene D. Gayle Global Development Symposium on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Gayle is the former CEO of CARE and is succeeded by Michelle Nunn.

Overall, Albright said she is “very disappointed” at some of the actions in the Trump Administration, including deep budget cuts in the State Department as well as slowness in accepting refugees from war-torn areas.

The purpose of the CARE-sponsored symposium was to raise awareness for the need for advancement of women and girls around the world to defeat poverty and achieve social justice.

“I am very worried about what is happening here,” said Albright about the cuts in the State Department programs that might affect aid programs as well as federal funding for Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which she said covers the plight of economically disadvantaged people around the world.

“One ray of hope is Dina Powell,” in the new administration said Albright, who also is a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Powell has been promoted from advising first daughter Ivanka Trump on women’s empowerment issues, to the National Security Council, where she will become deputy national security adviser for strategy. She will keep her role advising the President on economic initiatives. Powell headed the White House Personnel Office under President George W. Bush.

Albright, who served as Secretary of State in the Bill Clinton Administration, urged top brass to do what she did when budget cuts loomed. She called the President directly to plead her case.

Echoing Albright’s concerns were news anchor/civil rights activist Charlayne Hunter-Gault and CARE’s CEO Michelle Nunn. CARE, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is an international humanitarian agency. A portion of its budget for aid projects is federally funded.