One of our allies, the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, is spearheading an effort to get President Bush to increase the amount of funding going to fight global poverty. Even though the President releases his budget the first Tuesday in February, many of the decisions about funding are being made now by his advisors.

The President requested a $3 billion increase in February 2006 but the House of Representatives and the Senate cut the President’s budget request by roughly $1 billion.

The U.S. Global Leadership Campaign is trying to demonstrate bipartisan Congressional support for the President’s budget by getting at least 150 members of Congress to send President Bush a “Dear Colleague” letter stating that they support an increase to the International Affairs Budget. (It’s also known as the 150 Account.) There are a lot of things in this budget, but by calling for the pie to be bigger, they are helping set a sound foundation for the campaign to fight global poverty in the 110th Congress.

As of this morning, 143 members of Congress have signed the letter, often because of calls from their constituents. We can help reach the goal of 150 signatures by calling our representatives and asking them to sign onto the 150 Letter.

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