ONE’s summer interns picked the perfect theme song from Mission Impossible to hum down the halls of Capital Hill today. Our assignment proved to be equally important as any of Tom Cruise’s “impossible missions.” No special gadgets or ropes needed this time to navigate our ways through the tricky halls and tunnels of the Hill.

Our mission: to deliver PEPFAR reauthorization petitions signed by 15,000 ONE members. Because of the time-sensitive case of PEPFAR, these constituents asked their respective senators to support the bill and quickly push for a vote on the Senate floor. Currently, a small group of senators are blocking the passage of PEPFAR, so these petitions went out to 25 key senators whose support could expedite the process and get PEPFAR on the move to help the poorest of the poor.

As for the Summer interns, our first mission was a success. It is now up to ONE members to continue putting pressure on their senators to pass this lifesaving legislation.

-Julie-Anne Savarit-Consenza, ONE intern