Archive for June, 2007
Right now, the House is debating the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which would increase poverty-focused development assistance in the 2008 budget by a record $2.1 billion.
Please call 1-800-786-2663 to tell your representative to vote YES on HR 2764 and to oppose any amendments that cut poverty fighting assistance.
Below is a list of all the proposed amendments, all of which ONE opposes:
The Amendments by REP. JEB HENSARLING, R-Texas, which cut vital
poverty-focused development assistance for the world’s poor, include:
-An amendment (#19) to reduce funding for the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative
by $1.2 billion, bringing funding to the FY 2007 level.
-An amendment (#21) to reduce funding for the Peace Corps by $14 million,
bringing funding to the FY 2007 level.
-An amendment (#23) to reduce funding for the Millennium Challenge
Corporation by $48 million, bringing funding to the FY 2007 level
(for a full list click here? You don’t need to list them all unless you want to)
REP. JIM JORDAN, R-Ohio, will offer an amendment (#26) to reduce funding
in the bill by $2.956 billion, bringing the total to the FY 2007 level.
REP. MARILYN MUSGRAVE, R-Colo., will offer an amendment (#8) to make an
across-the-board cut of 0.5% to all funding in the bill.
REP. ILEANNA ROS-LEHTINEN, R-Fla., will offer an amendment (#9) to
reduce funding for International Organizations by $10.7 million.
MR. TOM PRICE, R-Georgia will offer an amendment to make an across-the-board cutto all funding in the bill.
Hey everyone!
I’m getting ready for Saturday night’s “ONEnow” event at the Carillon United Methodist Church in Oviedo, Florida, (from 6-9pm) when more than 25 non-profit organizations will join together under the 15,000 sq. ft. EPIcenter facility to provide information and encourage volunteer initiatives in the community.
The evening will conclude with a concert by LA’s singer-songwriter Leland Grant, followed by the first proclamation of a “Church of ONE.”
ONE will be working with the HOPE Foundation (an organization formed to help alleviate poverty locally), and 105.9 O-Rock Radio. We’ll also be joined by ONE partners and friends from Heifer International, RESULTS and Church World Service. I’ll send an update next week along with photos! See www.onenowevent.com for more info.
Today, Leland Grant is showing his support for the fight against extreme poverty by sharing his song “Lines In The Sand” with ONE members. Listen to “Lines In The Sand” and all our ONE music on the ONEcast.
Below, a note from Leland:
For the past couple years I have been playing music trying to push my career as an artist trying to sell records and get people out to my shows. For the past few months I have been focusing my efforts on making music for more selfless reasons which has had a deeper intangible reward that is very refreshing.
I’m really looking forward to playing for the ONE Campaign coming up in Florida and hopefully more ONE Campaign events to come.
-Leland Grant
http://www.lelandgrant.com
The State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill that would provide for a $2.1 billion increase in poverty-focused development assistance in the 2008 budget is being debated live on the floor now. You can watch the debate live online on c-span.
Please call 1-800-786-2663 now to urge your representative to vote yes on this bill and to oppose any amendments that cut poverty fighting assistance.
Today, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a bill for a record $2.1 billion increase in poverty-focused development assistance.
ONE has set up a 1-800 phone line for you to call your representatives and tell them to vote YES on HR 2764: the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill and to oppose any amendments that cut poverty fighting assistance.
Please call 1-800-786-2663 now.
If passed, this funding would bring us one step closer to providing safe cleaning water to the billion people who live without, providing education for the 77 million children in the world not in school, and fighting AIDS, malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
We’ll keep you posted as this bill travels through the floor.
Breaking news — National Journal is reporting that White House Budget
Director Portman is resigning and will be replaced by former Rep. Jim
Nussle of Iowa, who chaired the House Budget Committee, White House
officials said today. President Bush is scheduled to officially announce
the change this afternoon. Nussle left Congress at the end of the last
term. He lost the Iowa governor’s race in November. Portman, an Ohio
Republican, left Congress in 2005 to become U.S. Trade Representative.
He took over as Bush’s budget director last year.
Senator and presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, visited South Carolina’s upstate on Friday, June 15. Over 1,000 people packed into Greenville’s McAlister Square to hear the candidate speak. This included a half dozen ONE staff members and volunteers.
Two energetic choirs provided soulful entertainment as the crowd waited on Senator Obama to arrive. Once on stage, his speech focused on the need to reorient American political culture into what he termed a “less timid, less selfish” politics.
While security was very strict and no personal photos or questions were taken, Senator Obama did specifically address the strong need for more aid to Africa and other countries suffering from extreme poverty. He explained that his campaign was dedicated to a vision of American leadership in the global fight against disease and economic suffering. ONE volunteers found the crowd to be excited about, and interested in, the ONE Campaign’s growing efforts here in South Carolina and across the nation.
Last week, I went to hear President Bill Clinton give the spring commencement addess at Ohio State University. My boyfriend, Mike, and I saw some ONE t-shirts and wristbands throughout the crowd and our friend and fellow ONE member, Cheryl Johncox, wore a lovely ONE.org on her graduation cap. We were crossing our fingers that the commencement speech might mention some of ONE’s issues – well, I think President
Clinton mentioned them all. Now it’s up to us to do something about it. With the launch of ONE Vote ’08, we can put aside our differences and focus on our “common humanity” as President Clinton would say.
Below are some excerpts of what he had to say:
“I could talk to you all day about what needs to be done. Is Darfur a travesty? Yes. Does it still bother me that we still after three years of intense effort don’t give medicine to all poor people in the world that need it to deal with AIDS, TB, Malaria and infections related to dirty water? (They claim one-fourth of all the lives on Earth every year.) Yeah, that bothers me. But all these problems are rooted in one larger question, and the answer to that question will determine whether your children and your grandchildren will be able to come here 25 or 50 years hence in an increasingly interdependent, crowded, clashing world.
The question is which matters more: our interesting differences or our common humanity, and what are you supposed to do about it?”
“We have to see each other because in an interdependent world, we really can’t succeed without each other. That will be your great challenge. All other things will be dealt with if we think and feel and act as if our common future is our common future.”
You can listen to the full audio of his address here.
