73 Thank Yous Awaiting Distribution
March 17th, 2008 at 1:53 pm | posted by Virginia SimmonsAt 1:30 a.m. on Friday night, global poverty advocates scored a major victory. Rallying with allies like Interaction and the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, sending tens of thousands of petitions and making thousands of calls, in just two weeks ONE members created the support needed to restore $4 billion to the 2009 international affairs budget.
The final vote was 73 to 23 in our favor. Now is the moment to thank the senators who voted with us, and stood up for the billion people around the world who live on less than a dollar a day when it really counted.
And now is also the time to contact those who didn’t vote with us and let them know that you’re disappointed and hope to have their support in the future.
Below I’m re-listing all the candidates’ votes by state. You can use the Capitol switchboard - at 202-224-3121- to connect to their office. Please do so today, our representatives need to know they have our support when they choose to vote for the most vulnerable among us.
BIDEN-LUGAR AMENDMENT - Yeas and Nays
| Alabama: | Sessions (R-AL), Nay | Shelby (R-AL), Nay |
| Alaska: | Murkowski (R-AK), Yea | Stevens (R-AK), Nay |
| Arizona: | Kyl (R-AZ), Nay | McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting |
| Arkansas: | Lincoln (D-AR), Yea | Pryor (D-AR), Yea |
| California: | Boxer (D-CA), Yea | Feinstein (D-CA), Yea |
| Colorado: | Allard (R-CO), Nay | Salazar (D-CO), Yea |
| Connecticut: | Dodd (D-CT), Yea | Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea |
| Delaware: | Biden (D-DE), Yea | Carper (D-DE), Yea |
| Florida: | Martinez (R-FL), Yea | Nelson (D-FL), Yea |
| Georgia: | Chambliss (R-GA), Yea | Isakson (R-GA), Yea |
| Hawaii: | Akaka (D-HI), Yea | Inouye (D-HI), Yea |
| Idaho: | Craig (R-ID), Nay | Crapo (R-ID), Nay |
| Illinois: | Durbin (D-IL), Yea | Obama (D-IL), Yea |
| Indiana: | Bayh (D-IN), Yea | Lugar (R-IN), Yea |
| Iowa: | Grassley (R-IA), Nay | Harkin (D-IA), Yea |
| Kansas: | Brownback (R-KS), Yea | Roberts (R-KS), Yea |
| Kentucky: | Bunning (R-KY), Nay | McConnell (R-KY), Yea |
| Louisiana: | Landrieu (D-LA), Yea | Vitter (R-LA), Nay |
| Maine: | Collins (R-ME), Yea | Snowe (R-ME), Yea |
| Maryland: | Cardin (D-MD), Yea | Mikulski (D-MD), Yea |
| Massachusetts: | Kennedy (D-MA), Yea | Kerry (D-MA), Yea |
| Michigan: | Levin (D-MI), Yea | Stabenow (D-MI), Yea |
| Minnesota: | Coleman (R-MN), Yea | Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea |
| Mississippi: | Cochran (R-MS), Nay | Wicker (R-MS), Nay |
| Missouri: | Bond (R-MO), Not Voting | McCaskill (D-MO), Yea |
| Montana: | Baucus (D-MT), Yea | Tester (D-MT), Yea |
| Nebraska: | Hagel (R-NE), Yea | Nelson (D-NE), Yea |
| Nevada: | Ensign (R-NV), Nay | Reid (D-NV), Yea |
| New Hampshire: | Gregg (R-NH), Nay | Sununu (R-NH), Yea |
| New Jersey: | Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea | Menendez (D-NJ), Yea |
| New Mexico: | Bingaman (D-NM), Yea | Domenici (R-NM), Not Voting |
| New York: | Clinton (D-NY), Yea | Schumer (D-NY), Yea |
| North Carolina: | Burr (R-NC), Yea | Dole (R-NC), Yea |
| North Dakota: | Conrad (D-ND), Nay | Dorgan (D-ND), Yea |
| Ohio: | Brown (D-OH), Yea | Voinovich (R-OH), Yea |
| Oklahoma: | Coburn (R-OK), Nay | Inhofe (R-OK), Nay |
| Oregon: | Smith (R-OR), Yea | Wyden (D-OR), Yea |
| Pennsylvania: | Casey (D-PA), Yea | Specter (R-PA), Yea |
| Rhode Island: | Reed (D-RI), Yea | Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea |
| South Carolina: | DeMint (R-SC), Nay | Graham (R-SC), Yea |
| South Dakota: | Johnson (D-SD), Yea | Thune (R-SD), Nay |
| Tennessee: | Alexander (R-TN), Yea | Corker (R-TN), Yea |
| Texas: | Cornyn (R-TX), Yea | Hutchison (R-TX), Nay |
| Utah: | Bennett (R-UT), Yea | Hatch (R-UT), Nay |
| Vermont: | Leahy (D-VT), Yea | Sanders (I-VT), Yea |
| Virginia: | Warner (R-VA), Yea | Webb (D-VA), Yea |
| Washington: | Cantwell (D-WA), Yea | Murray (D-WA), Yea |
| West Virginia: | Byrd (D-WV), Not Voting | Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea |
| Wisconsin: | Feingold (D-WI), Yea | Kohl (D-WI), Yea |
| Wyoming: | Barrasso (R-WY), Nay | Enzi (R-WY), Nay |
| Vote Summary | By Senator Name | By Vote Position | By Home State |
March 17th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Way to go Senator Cornyn!! It looks like Senator Hutchison needs some more encouragement and constituent influence!
Texas WILL keep fighting for ONE!
March 17th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I fully support INDIVIDUALS giving to whatever charities they choose. I do NOT support sending my US tax dollars to foreign nations. Hutchinson got it right.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Sorry, Ted, I’m with Angela on this one. I was VERY IMPRESSED that Sen. Cornyn voted for the Biden-Lugar Amendment which greatly assists our movement to end extreme poverty in the world.
As someone who has personally visited these Senators’ district offices many times over the last five years to lobby for full funding of the PEPFAR, Global Fund and MCA programs in our federal budgets, I was ELATED to see Sen. Cornyn voting in the affirmative!
Hopefully someone from our Senators’ offices reads the ONE blog to gauge what the reaction is to their votes on these programs.
If they are they need to know that no matter where we are in Texas from Dallas to Austin to San Antonio to Houston & beyond - we are UNITED AS ONE IN TEXAS and we want our politicians to know that we will NOT disappear after the Presidential elections this Fall!
We all will continue in our areas of this state to STAND UP & BE FIRM in our support of our movement to end AIDS and extreme poverty in the world, especially in Africa.
Take very good care, my friends. Blessings on St. Patrick’s Day…and always.~
ALWAYS FOREVER, ONE - debbie
March 17th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Ted-
I support individuals sending their money to charities as well. The fact of the matter is, no matter what, a percentage of our tax dollars will always go to foreign nations- we are just ensuring we have a say in where and how. I would like to say, I would much rather choose my tax dollars go to a country in need than to fund a war that is unjust. The last calculation I saw was $77 million a day or a week to fight the war in Iraq. How can that be justified? I don’t think $4 billion of the ANNUAL budget is too much to ask for foreign aid when we can help a whole continent and other impoverished countries.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Hey, Ted…
I challenge you, and every US Senator who did NOT vote Yea on BIDEN-LUGAR, to show me where that money would be of more value here in terms of sheer human physiological need.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I had went online to both of my senators sites to ask them to support it and then also to thank them. This is one response I received from Sen. Specter:
Dear Ms. Shaffer:
Thank you for contacting my office regarding the proposal of Senators Biden and Lugar to restore $4.1 billion to the International Affairs budget. I co-sponsored the amendment, and it passed on Thursday, March 13, 2008.
I appreciate your taking the time to bring your views on this important matter to my attention. As a United States Senator, it is essential that I be kept fully informed on the issues of concern to my constituents. Be assured that I will keep your thoughts on foreign aid in mind when the Senate considers this or related issues during the 110th Congress.
The concerns of my constituents are of great importance to me, and I rely on you and other Pennsylvanians to inform me of your views. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office or visit my website at http://specter.senate.gov. Thank you again for writing.
Sincerely,
Arlen Specter
March 20th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Below is the thank you letter I wrote and emailed to Senators, hope you can use it as well.
Dear Senator,
As a constituent and a member of the ONE Campaign, I sincerely appreciate your support for the Biden-Lugar Amendment restoring $4.1 billion to the international affairs budget, matching the president’s request.
Thank you for contributing to this monumental win in the fight against global poverty. This Amendment comes at a crucial time in our history and we commend your strong leadership.
I look forward to your continuing support for proven solutions to the very worst suffering caused by extreme poverty and global disease.
Sincerely,
March 20th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
listen people, obama is more extreme in radicalism than hitler. HE CLAIM AND STATES” he does not demoralize people with different views”" but look at him and hillary argue, or him and the reverand. HE is learnig as he goes , he is not certified nor experienced as a senator. Senators have to build a beautiful state (in mind as well) before country. I have more experience as a worker of all trades and student than barack obama. Im only 25. This should be a requirement. America needs to give more to set precedents for the richest nations to follow. They have following with envy and jealousy since our independence from taxes!!!!!!!!!!!.