Bread for the World’s 2009 Offering of Letters is focused on reforming U.S. foreign assistance to make it more effective in reducing hunger and poverty. Recently, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the House Foreign Affairs Committee to start this process of reform.

The historic bill, H.R. 2139 or the “Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009,”
directs the president to develop and implement a comprehensive national strategy to further the U.S. foreign policy objective of promoting global development.

This is the best chance we have this year to reform U.S. foreign aid. We need as many Republicans and Democrats to cosponsor this historic bill. It will demonstrate that there is broad support in Congress for U.S. foreign aid reform to make it more effective in reducing hunger and poverty.

We have a limited window of opportunity get cosponsors for the bill. Call your representative now to cosponsor H.R. 2139. You can use Bread for the World’s special hot line to Congress: 1-800-826-3688. Tell your representative to cosponsor H.R. 2139 and reform foreign aid and make it more effective in reducing hunger and poverty.

Listen to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, as he speaks about the need to reform U.S. foreign aid.

To make an even greater impact, come to Washington, DC this summer and talk personally with your members of Congress about reforming U.S. foreign assistance. You can do that by attending Bread for the World’s Gathering 2009.

Join hundreds of anti-hunger and anti-poverty advocates from across the country from June 14 to 16 at American University. We’ll hear from experts like Andrew Natsios, former administrator of USAID; the Wall Street Journal’s Roger Thurow; and María Otero, president of ACCION International (a leading global microfinance institution.)

I hope to see you there!

-Jennifer Stapleton, Bread for the World Communications