Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), a long-time champion in the fight against global poverty, and a lead sponsor of the Global Poverty Act gave a great speech on the House’s floor yesterday.

An excerpt:

“Today in dozens of poor countries all over the world, little boys and girls are born into poverty, disease, and hunger. Hopelessness and despair are their daily companions. Their burdens are day-to-day, they are painful, and they are heavy.

In debating debt relief, I quoted Sister Rebecca Trujillo. She was asked – how do the poor get through the day, how do they survive? Her answer was: “Since being in Nicaragua, I have taken to answer in a matter of fact way, ‘Often they do not.’ ”

We’re fond of saying we’ve had a really bad day. But we ought to be reminded that for billions of people throughout the world that even on our worst days, we have more food, more shelter, more clothes, more security, more health care, more of everything than our poor brothers and sisters have on their best days….

Reducing global poverty is in our economic interest and our national security as well. The bill will focus our battle against global poverty. It is a powerful statement that Americans are committed to making this world a better place for all.”

Read the full statement after the jump…

Let me commend the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee. It has been a pleasure working with Congressman Adam Smith on this legislation.

This is a bipartisan bill with a goal that should bring all of us together. That goal is to make the reduction of extreme poverty a foreign policy priority for the United States.

Today in dozens of poor countries all over the world, little boys and girls are born into poverty, disease, and hunger. Hopelessness and despair are their daily companions. Their burdens are day-to-day, they are painful, and they are heavy.

In debating debt relief, I quoted Sister Rebecca Trujillo. She was asked – how do the poor get through the day, how do they survive? Her answer was: “Since being in Nicaragua, I have taken to answer in a matter of fact way, ‘Often they do not.’ ”

We’re fond of saying we’ve had a really bad day. But we ought to be reminded that for billions of people throughout the world that even on our worst days, we have more food, more shelter, more clothes, more security, more health care, more of everything than our poor brothers and sisters have on their best days.

A lot of people say the reality is overwhelming. Half the world lives on two dollars a day. But we can make a difference and do so at a very small cost.

We’ve had successes. Debt relief has been a success. It has improved the lives of millions of people for almost no monetary cost to this country.

Since the Millenium Development Goals were set seven years ago, the poverty rate in sub-Saharan Africa is down 6%. There are more children receiving health care and medical treatment, in fact over a million more children in that area alone, vaccinations are up, and throughout Africa the percentage of students of students enrolled in primary school has gone up considerably.

Cost should never be the overriding consideration. Doing the right thing is the imperative. But when we consider the cost, let us realize that the cost of not acting is not only hopelessness and unrest throughout the world, but also terrorism, confrontation, and wars that can be avoided if these programs work.

Reducing global poverty is in our economic interest and our national security as well. The bill will focus our battle against global poverty. It is a powerful statement that Americans are committed to making this world a better place for all.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Rep. Spencer Bachus, Global Poverty Act. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.