Thanks in part to hundreds of phone calls from ONE members and more from our partner organizations, the House of Representatives voted 256-174 last night against an amendment that would have stripped $506 million in critical multilateral aid from the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

“Today we can celebrate strong support for multilateral assistance for the poorest and debt relief,” said Neil Watkins, Executive Director for ONE partner organization Jubilee USA. “The strong vote against the cuts demonstrates the power of grassroots suppporters and organizations to hold Congress’ feet to the fire in the fight for debt cancellation and against global poverty.”

The $506 million we helped protect will go towards important multilateral organizations and projects including the Global Environment Facility, the Clean Tech Fund, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) — the second largest development donor in Africa, providing critical assistance to some of the world’s poorest countries.

You can watch Representatives Lowey and Frank defend our multilateral aid operations here.

And click here to find out how your member voted.

The significant margin of representatives voting against this amendment bodes well for the rest of the Appropriations process, which is nearing final stages. Stay tuned to the ONE Blog for more opportunities to do your part in the fight against global poverty.

And many thanks to all who took action — your voices were heard!

-Emily Stivers