It is in the United States' interest to promote growth and stability throughout the world and especially in developing countries. One of the first steps towards this, and arguably the most important one, is empowering girls and women in these countries both socially and economically by ensuring their access to an education. Saying that we ought to "take care of our people first" thus is incredibly shortsighted; furthermore this attitude presents a false choice: we must be willing to invest in education both domestically and abroad to create the kind of future we want for ourselves an our children. Both are well within our means as the wealthiest nation on earth, and the return on this sort of investment will far exceed the initial outlay.