Responding to Terror
By Dana Connolly
Venice, CA

After the Paris attacks last month, our hearts ache for the 130 people killed. We can only imagine how their parents and families must feel. As ISIS attempts to spread terror, hate, and fear around our world, we have to fight back by making the world a safer, healthier, and happier place in the wake of disaster. 
We have many obstacles to overcome in the fight against ISIS, but there is something we can do right now to spread health and happiness around the world by taking a step to stop the deaths of millions of people. 
Worldwide, 6.3 million children die each year from preventable causes before they reach their fifth birthday. Nearly one-half of those deaths are related to malnutrition.
The Senate has introduced bipartisan legislation to put us on a track to ending preventable maternal and child deaths by 2035  (S.1911, the Reach Every Mother and Child Act), and the companion legislation in the House is HR 3706. This legislation calls for key reforms of USAID, our main development agency, to make it more efficient and effective.
This legislation will prevent millions of deaths at no extra cost to taxpayers. Let's urge Congress to vote on this important legislation. In doing so, we will push back the terror spread by ISIS to make the world a healthier, happier, and safer place.