Barack Obama

Today, President Obama and his Administration released their budget request to Congress for the fiscal year 2010. This gives us a look at the President’s priorities for the year and sets the tone for the Congressional debate about how much money will actually be appropriated. The numbers have just been released and so that is what we have posted here. We will release our reactions and commentary soon. Overall though, a $2.9 billion increase in the key development accounts that ONE monitors.

-Larry Nowels and Josh Lozman

Today, President Obama announced a global health initiative that provides a promising outlook for people in the developing world. The President outlined budget commitments for global healthcare that extend over the next six years. That means that today we were able to see a bit more clearly how the United States is going to lead the international community into the year 2015—the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Bono, ONE co-founder and lead singer for the band, U2, offered some words of support for this bold initiative:

Today, ‘Doctor Obama’ leads the next chapter in the U.S. response to global health crises, building on the record of results from the previous administration and bipartisan support from Congress” said Bono. “The question is no longer whether we can fight these diseases in the poorest countries, it is how much do we want to do? The President is answering ‘a lot.’ His strategic leadership on these issues is protecting the long-term interests of the people in his own country as well as saving vulnerable lives overseas.

At a press conference this afternoon with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the White House committed to boosting lifesaving global health spending by $459 million in fiscal year 2010. The commitment includes a $165 million increase for the global AIDS initiative, the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), and a $200 million increase towards eradicating malaria in FY21010. In total, the White House announced a $63 billion commitment to global health over the next six years.

President Obama highlighted his reasons for the budget with this statement:

…We cannot simply confront individual preventable illnesses in isolation. The world is interconnected, and that demands an integrated approach to global health.

As a U.S. Senator, I joined a bipartisan majority in supporting the Bush Administration’s effective President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). That plan has provided lifesaving medicines and prevention efforts to millions of people living in some of the world’s most extreme conditions. Last summer, the Congress approved the Lantos-Hyde US Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS Act — legislation that I was proud to cosponsor as a U.S. Senator and now carry out as President. But I also recognize that we will not be successful in our efforts to end deaths from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis unless we do more to improve health systems around the world, focus our efforts on child and maternal health, and ensure that best practices drive the funding for these programs.

My budget makes critical investments in a new, comprehensive global health strategy. We support the promise of PEPFAR while increasing and enhancing our efforts to combat diseases that claim the lives of 26,000 children each day. We cannot fix every problem. But we have a responsibility to protect the health of our people, while saving lives, reducing suffering, and supporting the health and dignity of people everywhere. America can make a significant difference in meeting these challenges, and that is why my Administration is committed to act.

Today’s success is in part due to bipartisan American leadership on the issue of AIDS and preventable disease. You’ve already read about how Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Defense Gates have advocated the need to make development and global health a key component for a more comprehensive and effective U.S. foreign policy.

-Chandler Smith

The Washington Post writes how diseases, from influenza to tuberculosis to cholera and now swine flu, are spreading ever more quickly in an increasingly globalized world. But so, too, are the tools necessary to combat outbreaks of disease: expertise, medicine, money and information.

Washington Post—Diseases Travel Fast, but So Do Tools to Fight Them

Dr. Eric Goosby, a pioneer in the fight against AIDS, is President Obama’s choice to run the American effort to combat the disease globally, the White House announced this week. “The Pepfar program has already saved millions of lives in sub-Saharan Africa and other hard-hit areas around the world,” Dr. Goosby said in a statement. “But significant challenges relating to the prevention and treatment of H.I.V. remain.”

NY Times—Obama Picks Leader for Global AIDS Effort

Zimbabwe’s leaders this week failed for the fourth time in a fortnight to resolve a series of contentious issues threatening to paralyze the country’s shaky coalition government. The crisis talks remained deadlocked after long hours of intense discussions, signaling a serious political problem besetting the new government. A fierce power struggle is raging behind the scenes as President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai intensify their battle for political control.

Business Day (South Africa) – No Aid for Zimbabwe as Leaders Struggle to Overcome Political Impasse

Growing evidence indicates battle-hardened extremists are filtering out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into eastern Africa, bringing sophisticated terrorist tactics that include suicide attacks. The alarming shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, is fueling concern that Somalia is increasingly on a path to become the next Afghanistan — a sanctuary where al-Qaida-linked groups could train and plan attacks against the West.

Associated Press – Terrorists filter into Africa

-Steve Wilson

Yesterday was a good day for the developing world – and for ONE – with several positive outcomes from the G20 meetings in London. What capped off the day really well was a tidbit mentioned by President Obama in his evening remarks. He announced that he will work with Congress to double support for agricultural development to over $1 billion “…so that we are giving people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty.”

In details released today, the White House specified that this funding – which will be requested for the FY2010 budget – aims to modernize developing country agriculture in order to increase productivity and rural incomes. Specific assistance areas include increasing the use of technology, linking farmers to markets, increasing access to quality inputs like seeds, tools, fertilizers, irrigation, and rural credit, and encouraging private investment in agriculture. The White House is also committed to reducing dependency on food aid, bringing the poorest into the growth process through social safety net programs, and building/strengthening partnerships with the international community, private sector, NGOs, and U.S. universities.

In 2008, the U.S. provided approximately $450 million to agriculture in the developing world. In our proposal to the Obama Administration earlier this year, ONE requested at least $850 million for the FY2010 budget for agriculture. For the U.S. to reach a funding target of more than $1 billion for agricultural development initiatives in the developing world certainly exceeds our request.

The commitment to exceed $1 billion for agriculture in the developing world also aligns well with the Senators Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Robert Casey (D-Penn.)’s proposed Global Food Security Act, which was introduced in the 111th Congress and cleared the Senate Foreign Affairs committee on Tuesday by unanimous vote. The bill requests almost $1.5 billion in FY2010 for agricultural development initiatives, research and technological innovation, training, and emergency food assistance.

As the White House noted, “…We can directly improve the lives of poor populations by growing rural economies through broad-based agriculture growth.” This funding comes at a crucial time for developing countries where food prices remain high and families are facing decreased incomes and remittances due to the global financial crisis. Investing in agriculture will not only bolster food security in the developing world, but it will enable families and communities to increase their incomes through agriculture-driven economic productivity.

The funding will be targeted in 25 countries and 8 regions; in Africa this includes Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, and Eastern and Southern Africa. Other targeted areas are South and East Asia, Latin America, and the Near East. We applaud President Obama and urge him to follow through speedily with meeting this commitment. ONE will be following this topic closely and will be sure to keep you updated.

-Beth Adler

In addition to the remarks we blogged about earlier, President Obama had this to say about his role as President.

Transcript:

I have a direct responsibility to my constituents to make their lives better. That’s why they put me in there. That accounts for some of the questions here, how concretely does me being here help them find a job, pay for their home, send their kids to college, live what we call the American dream. I will be judged by my effectiveness in meeting their needs and concerns.

But, in an era of integration and interdependence, it is also my responsibility to lead America into recognizing its interests, its fate is tied up with the larger world. That if we neglect or abandon those who are suffering in poverty, that not only are we depriving ourselves of potential opportunities in markets and economic growth, but that despair may turn to violence that turns on us. That unless we are concerned about the education of all children and not just our children, not only will we be depriving ourselves of the next great scientist to find the next new energy source that saves the planet, but we also may make people around the world much more vulnerable to anti-American propaganda. So, if I’m effective as America’s president now, part of that effectiveness involves providing Americans insight into how their self-interest is tied up with yours.

-Chris Scott

A couple hours ago British Prime Minister Gordon Brown held a global press conference at the London G20 Summit, and right now, US President Barack Obama is holding one as well (which ONE’s Virginia Simmons is currently attending.)

Here are some important excerpts from Brown and Obama’s speeches:

Brown:

This time of financial crisis is no time to walk away from our commitments to the world’s poorest. So when people are suffering – and, yet, it is within our capacity to help – we will not pass by on the other side. We remain firmly committed to meeting the millennium development goals and all of our pledges on aid. To deal with this crisis we have today asked the IMF to bring forward proposals to use the proceeds of agreed gold sales to support low income countries. So in total we have now reached agreements worth $50 billion for the poorest countries – alongside our support for a world bank vulnerability fund.

Obama:

Finally, we are protecting those who don’t always have a voice at the G-20, but who have suffered greatly in this crisis. The United States is ready to lead in this endeavor. In the coming days, I will work with Congress to provide $448 million in immediate assistance to vulnerable populations, and to double support for agricultural development to over $1 billion so that we are giving people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. We will also support the United Nations and World Bank as they coordinate the rapid assistance necessary to prevent humanitarian catastrophe. This is not just charity though. These are future markets for all countries, and future drivers of growth.

-Chris Scott

As we’ve been blogging about recently leaders from 20 of the world’s largest economies are gathering in London for the G20 Summit in a little over a week—the most important talks to date on rebuilding the global economy. For the 53 million people teetering on the edge, this is a make-or-break moment during which President Obama’s influence upon other world leaders could make all the difference.

Please sign our petition asking President Obama to provide leadership for the G20 by including the poorest nations in their solutions to the financial crisis.

President Obama,

Please advocate for the resources, reform, and regulation that developing countries need to weather the financial crisis.

ONE is advocating a specific focus on the 3 R’s—resources, reform, and regulation—to bring needed recovery in the poorest nations on Earth. Please sign our petition asking President Obama to urge other G20 leaders to include developing nations in their solutions to financial crisis.

Thank you for your voice,

-Chris Scott

Today President Barack Obama is running an op-ed in 31 publications around the world including the Chicago Tribune, the Arab Times, and the China Morning Post just to name a few. This comes in anticipation of the G20 Summit in London next week and is an effort to ease global concerns about the financial crisis. In it, he asserts the US’s role as a global leader through the economic situation, and makes particular mention of the effects on the world’s poorest people.

Excerpt below, full op-ed here

We are living through a time of global economic challenges that cannot be met by half measures or the isolated efforts of any nation. Now, the leaders of the G-20 have a responsibility to take bold, comprehensive and coordinated action that not only jump-starts recovery, but launches a new era of economic engagement to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again.

[…] we have an economic, security and moral obligation to extend a hand to countries and people who face the greatest risk. If we turn our backs on them, the suffering caused by this crisis will be enlarged, and our recovery will be delayed because markets for our goods will shrink further and more American jobs will be lost. The G-20 should quickly deploy resources to stabilize emerging markets, substantially boost the emergency capacity of the International Monetary Fund and help regional development banks accelerate lending. Meanwhile, America will support meaningful investments in food security that can help the poorest.

-Chris Scott

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s first meeting earlier this week with President Obama comes amidst a deepening global economic crisis. The two pledged a new era of international cooperation and the pointed to the work jointly to find solutions.

President Obama said:

We talked about the economic crisis and how that’s affecting not only developed countries, but very poor countries around the world, and the potential threat to food supplies if it continues to worsen, and the need for international coordination.

The UN Secretary-general, who has said we also need to be concerned not only with Wall Street or Main Street, but those who have no streets,” emphasized that:

Leaders of G20 should not lose sight of the challenges and plight of hundreds of hundreds of millions of poorest people of the developing countries who have been impacted by this economic crisis. The leaders of industrialized countries should keep their commitment on Millennium Development goals and official development assistance, and help developing countries overcome food security and also help them to adapt and mitigate climate change.

His visit comes on the heels of more bad news about the crisis. According to a World Bank study prepared for next Saturday’s meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors in London:

The global economy is likely to shrink this year for the first time since World War Two, with growth at least 5 percentage points below potential. World Bank forecasts show that global industrial production by the middle of 2009 could be as much as 15 percent lower than levels in 2008. World trade is on track in 2009 to record its largest decline in 80 years, with the sharpest losses in East Asia.

This is especially troubling for those least responsible for the crisis — the extreme poor. The study goes on to warn of financing shortfalls of anywhere between $270-700 billion as commodity prices continue to decline, global trade collapses, trade finance and private capital flows dry up and remittances drop.

And according to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, “The worst of the crisis is still to come,” specifically in Africa. The poorest countries lack the social safety nets to deal with the crisis and are becoming increasingly dependent on overseas development assistance.

Unfortunately even before the financial crisis hit, rich countries were falling short of their commitments by about $39 billion a year. At least in the U.S., the President’s budget (PDF) goes against the tide. It designated $51.7 billion for the State Department and other International Affairs Programs, a $4.5 billion increase from fiscal year 2009.

As the situation continues to spiral download, some people are looking to the April 2 G20 summit in London to provide a more pro-poor response. Both the UN Secretary-general and President Obama will participate in the G20 meeting.

-Anita Sharma, UN Millennium Campaign

Today, President Obama submitted a broad blueprint of his first budget request to Congress. This marks the start of an important process that will ultimately decide how federal dollars are spent and directed in fiscal year 2010, including funding for America’s efforts to fight global poverty and end deaths from preventable diseases like AIDS and malaria.

In the weeks and months ahead, ONE members will have the chance to play an important role during a critical stage of the budget process. And in the end, if we are successful, we can make sure that more people with HIV/AIDS have access to lifesaving medication, that more bed nets are provided to protect families from malaria, and that more kids living in the poorest regions are given the chance to attend school for the first time.

The President’s budget has designated $51.7 billion for the State Department and other International Affairs Programs. This number represents a $4.5 billion increase over the $47.2 billion that was passed for fiscal year 2009. However, because today’s outline only provided top line figures, we do not yet know how much of it will represent an increase for global poverty reduction programs. ONE is seeking a $4 billion increase for poverty reduction accounts as a positive start in setting a spending trajectory that will enable President Obama to fulfill his historic anti-poverty commitments, which ONE members helped secure during the presidential campaign, including his commitment to double foreign assistance. Since those campaign commitments, the President has continued to articulate the importance of addressing global poverty, including in his Inaugural Address and most recently in his speech to Congress. In the next couple weeks, ONE will work to make sure that these commitments and sentiments are fully reflected in the nuts and bolts of the President’s budget request, which we’ll learn more about in April.

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