FY2011 US budget
“How much would you give to save the world? 15 percent of the budget? 10 percent? How about 1 percent?”
This is the message that was splashed on the front of today’s issue of Express, a publication of The Washington Post. The ad, sponsored by CARE, WWF and Oxfam America, went on to say, “Currently, only about 1 percent of the US budget goes to address global hunger, poverty, climate change, conservation and disaster relief.”
We know it might be a tad dorky, but over at ONE, we were pretty excited to see this message splashed across the front of our paper.
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ONE members, we know you’ve done a lot around our budget action. You’ve signed our petition. You’ve called your members of the House. You’ve called your members of the Senate. But now, it’s time for one more action: call President Obama and tell him to defend and protect funding for the world’s poor.
Two minutes of your time can make all the difference — and our time is running out. Pick up the phone and let President Obama know that you care about people living in the world’s poorest places. These people may not have a voice, but you do.
President Obama’s number is 202-456-1111. For talking points, fill out your name and email address on our call page, then report how it went.
You already know that just 1 percent of the budget accomplishes so much in helping the world’s poor. Millions of lives can be saved and so many futures can be built with just so little of the budget. If the proposed budget cuts go through, programs that fight HIV/AIDS, hunger and preventable disease will see devastating cuts. Cuts to the budget won’t improve lives in America, but they will cost the lives of countless people living in the poorest parts of the world.
Just last week, President Obama told the nation that “to brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and -– more profoundly -– our responsibilities to our fellow human beings” would be a betrayal of who we are. It is our responsibility as a great nation and our moral obligation as human beings to protect our commitment to the world’s poor.
Gawain Kripke of Oxfam America talks about a not-so-funny situation that’s happening around our US budget.
The foolishness I’m talking about is the federal budget debate. The current drama gripping Washington is whether the factions in Congress will shut down the federal government to spite each other, by failing to enact a stop-gap spending measure while they negotiate a longer-term budget deal. It’s a game of chicken, each side counting on the other to blink and give in.
Beneath these theatrics are serious questions about whether—and how—to cut government spending. These questions will be answered later in April and in coming months as Congress takes up next year’s budget and raises the government’s debt limit. Republicans in Congress generally want to cut spending. Democrats in Congress, generally, want to cut spending, but less.
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This Wednesday, Raj Shah, the head of USAID, testified in front of a Congress that is threatening to cut funding to development programs by as much as 40 percent. Much of the speech was just as you would expect: a celebration of the success of US aid programs in improving health, cutting hunger and driving development in poor countries, along with a reminder that all these benefits are being delivered on less than 1 percent of the US budget. However, he chose to end on a different note:
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Mar 31st, 2011 2:20 PM UTC
By Field
Three ONE members at Seton Hall University were lucky enough to meet Senator Bob Menendez on Monday night at the Second Annual Women of Distinction Awards Ceremony in Middlesex County College in Edison, NJ.
The senator established these awards in honor of his late mother in order to inspire other trailblazing American women of achievement in various fields.
ONE Seton Hall member Alyana Alfaro said, “We spoke to him for a couple of minutes and thanked him for his continuing championship of the international affairs budget, particularly critical life-saving and poverty-fighting programs, at a time when it is being severely challenged. He said it was important to him and he appreciated our support. We also gave him a ONE band which he wore during the entirety of the award presentation.” (more…)
Mar 31st, 2011 1:20 PM UTC
By Field
Last Saturday, two ONE members joined me at a town hall meeting hosted by Congressman Ed Royce at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, CA. This was the first time I have even attended a town hall and WOW — what an impact we can make with our representatives!
Topics ranged from national security to the budget. After the town hall, we got to meet the congressman and his district director to share with them the concerns of 17,000 Californians who signed the ONE petition to “Stop the Cuts that Could Kill.”
The petition has a vital goal to to protect funding for smart US investments that address HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, child vaccines and agriculture from the recent devastating cuts in the House 2011 funding bill. Under the currents cuts to the Global Fund, more than 400,000 AIDS patients will not receive antiretroviral treatment, leaving them on the path to illness and death.
Helping the world’s poorest people is not only an important American legacy, it also strengthens our national security, as stated on several occasions by military leaders such as General Petraeus and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
Congressman Royce, who has traveled widely on the African continent, was very approachable and attentive to our group. When we offered him a wristband, he immediately rolled up his sleeve and put it on. His district director kindly gave us the congressman’s card along with more information on how we could follow him online.
We will keep the conversation going with the congressman to urge his support for critical life-saving programs, which win us allies overseas and promote our national security.
-Sue Lowe, ONE Congressional District leader, California
Everyone at ONE’s DC office knows that I’m a big foodie. I love talking about food, dreaming about it and of course, eating it. So, as you can imagine, I was incredibly proud to see one of my culinary heroes, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman, take action against US budget cuts to programs that fight HIV/AIDS, hunger and disease by making the ultimate sacrifice: cutting out his bread and butter, food.
Inspired by a single conversation he had with David Beckmann, winner of the World Food Prize and president of Bread for the World, Bittman joined 4,000 Americans in a nationwide fast to protest these life-threatening cuts. Organized by our partner HungerFast.org, activists have the option of giving up at least one meal a day, making time for prayer or limiting food consumption to $2 a day. Bittman, author of “How to Cook Everything” and Times food column “The Minimalist,” is forgoing all food consumption for five days.
“For me, the fast is a way to demonstrate my interest in this fight, as well as a way to remind myself and others that there are bigger things in life than dinner,” he wrote in a recent New York Times column. “But as hungry as I may get, we know I’ll eat well soon.”
Unfortunately, many people living in the world’s poorest places don’t have the option to “eat well soon” or even “eat soon” at all. And that’s why Bittman is so riled up about the US budget cuts — because it’s decreasing funds for morally responsible programs that keep people from starving to death.
“We can take care of the deficit and rebuild our infrastructure and strengthen our safety net by reducing military spending and eliminating corporate subsidies and tax loopholes for the rich,” he said. “Or we can sink further into debt and amoral individualism by demonizing and starving the poor.”
I’m glad to see that Bittman is using his foodie influence to champion an issue that we here at ONE really care about. I know that his actions will touch the food lovers (and hardcore Bittman fans) like me.
Up for fasting? Challenge yourself and your spirit at HungerFast.org.
Photo courtesy of MarkBittman.com
