Farm Bill — The House is debating the rule to consider the Farm Bill now. The Fairness Amendment will be the first amendment considered after the rule is passed.

News on other ONE priorties:

GROWTH Act — Senator Hutchison has agreed to co-sponsor the GROWTH Act bill with Senator Durbin. One of our super volunteers, hand delivered 4,672 letters from ONE members asking Sen. Hutchison to be the lead cosponsor of the bill!

Global Poverty Act – is scheduled for markup on Tuesday, July 31st — We have been working to build committee support for this bill so that it will pass through committee unopposed.

-Erin Erlenborn, ONE Government Relations Director

You can watch on your TV or live online on C-Span.

Yesterday, I was able to band the First Lady and ask her a question about her recent trip to Africa!

At a National Press Club luncheon, Mrs. Bush spoke about her tour through Senegal, Mozambique, Zambia and Mali and the importance of foreign aid initiatives.

The question I submitted, asking what most impressed the First Lady during her trip, was the first asked during the question and answer session. Her reply is below.

MRS. BUSH: Well, I think it was hearing the “Lazarus effect,” I mean, these stories of people who were literally dying and then once they were on antiretrovirals they came back to life. But certainly one of the most moving parts is the work that so many groups are doing on ground in Africa. Bruce’s group, the RAPIDS Consortium, have a donor who has given 23,000 bicycles to Zambia, so that the care-givers that we met can literally go door to door in their neighborhoods and find out who needs help.

One of the reasons PEPFAR and these other programs are effective is because we’re working with people who are already on the ground and who can go door to door. And to hear the stories of these care-givers was really very, very inspiring.

Read the full transcript from the First Lady’s remarks here.

-Sarah Crouthers

It started with the NAACP National Convention in Detroit, then it was Art in the Park in Plymouth and this weekend it was the Ann Arbor Art Fair–I tell ya’, the ONE groups in Michigan are on fire. Not only that but the groups banded together to make sure that all of the events were covered by ONE volunteers–Detroit, Ann Arbor, Livonia and Clinton Township! Great work everyone. Here’s a re-cap on the Ann Arbor Art Fair from Yvonne Wyborny, ONE and RESULTS (a ONE partner) member:

“Well, the materials are all packed up, the tent has been disassembled and the 2007 Ann Arbor Art Fair is over. Many more people now know about ONE. The final count is that 563 people signed the ONE declaration over 4 days. For some of the ONE volunteers, it was their first time chance to work a table at an event!”

Highlights include: WCBN-FM, the University of Michigan student-run radio station, came around on Wednesday afternoon to interview ONE and RESULTS member, Lisa Treumuth. The interviewer asked if the U.S. increased foreign aid by 1%, what should it be used for? (Lisa probably thought, “I’m so glad you asked.”) She told listeners about the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the importance of funding global education (and why many children are not in school due to school fees), and microcredit (where poor women get small loans to start micro-businesses to feed their families).

The Michigan groups are now unstoppable and I hope they serve as an inspiration to ONE groups everywhere!

- Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Field Organizer

This morning, New Hampshire Representative Paul Hodes endorsed Sen. Obama for president, and we made sure the poorest people on Earth were represented at the rally in Eagle Square in Concord.

Armed with ONE bands, a few ONE volunteers and I positioned ourselves on the top stairs to make sure our ONE shirts were seen by Sen. Obama and Congressman Hodes. But to our surprise, when they finally came out, both Sen. Obama and Rep. Hodes were already wearing ONE bands! Apparently some ONE members had already banded them, and Rep. Hodes’ wife Peggo ahead of time!

In his speech, Rep. Hodes talked about meeting Sen. Obama on a cold winter day in February in Eagle Square. Many ONE members who read this blog will recall that the ONE Campaign was there too, for a chance meeting Sen. Obama and how Rep. Hodes showed the senator his own ONE band while Melissa Skinner spoke with him about the need to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa.

During Sen. Obama’s speech he told the crowd that America was ready to work with the rest of the world on important global issues like stopping the genocide in Darfur and that we are “ready to lead on alleviating poverty and helping educate kids so that schools are built and they are not educated in hatred.”

There were a lot of people and Obama made his way through the crowd afterward. I was able to thank him for remembering the bottom billion people while campaigning up here in New Hampshire. I was also able to briefly talk with Rep. Hodes and thank him for wearing the ONE band back in February and today!

It is not everyday that you get to talk with a senator and a representative about the world’s poorest people. But here in New Hampshire, and across the nation, voters are realizing that ONE Vote ‘08 is our opportunity to change the world and save millions of lives. By emailing, calling, and faxing Congress and by by creating a ONE Vote ‘08 presence at political rallies, we are displaying a strong force and calling on our leaders to do what it takes to make poverty history.

The Fairness Amendment will be up first when the Farm Bill is on the floor this afternoon!

We only have one shot – so encourage everyone to make calls! (800) 786-2663

We especially need ONE members from California, Florida, New York, Michigan to call their representatives.

More when we have it.

-Erin Erlenborn, ONE’s Director of Government Relations

Those of us watching the House Agriculture Committee deliberations on the 2007 Farm Bill last week were privy to an elaborate show of smoke and mirrors. What was billed as reform was actually the opposite. Although we didn’t really think it was possible, the new Farm Bill proposed by the House Agriculture Committee actually takes our food and farm policy from bad to worse!

The proposed Farm Bill continues massive taxpayer support to the biggest and richest farmers, while doing little for small farmers, minority producers, anti-hunger programs, or the environment. It also continues to encourage overproduction and dumping of agriculture surpluses, such as cotton, on developing country farmers who are struggling to lift themselves out of poverty. THIS IS NOT REFORM. In fact, the Committee has sold out American family farmers to the highest bidder and left struggling farmers in poor countries in the dust.

Call me naïve, but I still have some hope that the House of Representatives is going to do the right thing and vote for a reformed Farm Bill on Thursday. In fact, a bipartisan amendment will be introduced to shift funds from trade-distorting subsidies to other priorities, such as food stamps, conservation, and programs that help minority and socially disadvantaged farmers. If approved, it will help us take important first steps on a new course toward real reform of family farm and food policy.

Together with a diverse group of allies, we’re calling on every member of the House of Representatives to vote yes on the “Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment,” which will shift funds from trade-distorting subsidies to other domestic priorities and it will help poor farmers abroad too!

Join us and call on your Representative to vote in support of a reformed Farm Bill!!!

-Laura Rusu, press officer, Oxfam America, and ONE member.

Mitt Romney made a campaign stop at the Puritan Restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire today. ONE member Andrea Synborski and I were able to talk with Gov. Romney about global disease and global poverty before he headed in for a town hall meeting.

Andrea mentioned that fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa was an important issue to her as a young Republican and spoke of President Bush’s work leading US efforts. Gov. Romney commented how Bush had just proposed 30 billion dollars over the next 5 years to help prevent and treat the spread of global AIDS. I was able to talk with the governor about how I have repeatedly heard him call for a “Second Marshall Plan” that would reach out to marginalized countries around the world and address issues of humanitarian care and basic education. I told him that actions like that show the rest of the world the type of people we Americans are.

During the stop, Gov. Romney was asked to sign an autograph book from a young NH child. She asked him to name three good role models for her. Gov. Romney responded by telling her: “Ronald Reagan – he was a President, Bono – lead singer of the group U2 for his work to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa, and Franklin Graham – a religious figure”. Although I do not think the girl knew who any of those people were, I gave her a ONE band and explained how the ONE Campaign works to fight disease and poverty in extremely poor places around the world.

Gov. Romney made his way to the exit and we told him to “save lives in Africa” on his way out. He smiled at us and told us he would do his best.

Bread for the World CEO David Beckmann, our ally and favorite new video star, is pulling out all the stops in this new YouTube video.

In it he asks us all to call our representatives in Congress before noon tomorrow to ask them to support the Fairness Amendment for the Farm Bill.

Get to it people!

ONE Vote ‘08 grew in numbers in and excitement in Iowa today!

-At RAGBRAI, the annual bike ride across in Iowa, we signed up new members, banded people, and bike riders and spectators wore ONE shirts all over town.

-Chris Matthews taped an interview with Lance Armstrong with ONE supporters in the background. The members wore ONE shirts and placards and Chris even signed our ONE wristband! MSNBC will be rebroadcast it at 7 PM.

-Tonight ONE will have a great presence at a local Blues Traveler and The Nadas concert. A ‘The Nadas’ band members will have a ONE Vote ‘08 shirt on during the performance and will mention ONE on stage.