Poverty Act Passes House!

Sep 25th, 2007 12:29 PM UTC
By Virginia Simmons

The Global Poverty Act passed by voice vote in the House just now!

Back in June, ONE members wrote letters to key representatives to move this bill out of committee and ONE super volunteers have been working to move the bill ahead for months. During today’s debate, members of Congress gave ONE partners Bread for the World and RESULTS well-deserved shout outs for their excellent work on the legislation.

Note: A Global Poverty Act must be introduced and passed in the Senate, as well, in order for this act to turn into the law.

What would the act do you ask? We’re one step ahead of you, so check out the below. As always, throw questions or comments into the comment thread.

What the Global Poverty Act does:

• Declares it official U.S. policy to promote the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme global poverty in half by 2015.
• Requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to carry out that policy.
• Includes guidelines for what the strategy should include – from aid, trade, and debt relief, to working with the international community, businesses and NGOs, to ensuring environmental sustainability.
• Requires that the President’s strategy include specific and measurable goals, efforts to be undertaken, benchmarks, and timetables.
• Requires the President to report back to Congress annually on progress made in the implementation of the global poverty strategy.

TAGS: Global Poverty Act