Excellent story yesterday in the Army Times about Defense Secretary Gates calling Senator Conrad to support State Department funding, which includes the funding we’re asking Conrad not to cut in the International Affairs Budget.

Senator Conrad said “I have never before in my 22 years on the budget committee had the secretary of defense call me to support the budget for the State Department.”

You can read the full article here.

We just sent an email out asking ONE Members across the country to call their senators and ask them to vote for the Kerry-Lugar Amendment that would restore potentially devastating cuts to the International Affairs Budget. These cuts, if enacted, would be a major blow to the part of the budget funding almost all of our anti-poverty work, from fighting global AIDS to making sure the hunger crisis doesn’t turn into a starvation crisis.

We only have 48 hours left. Please call your senators and ask them to vote for the Kerry-Lugar Amendment. Together we can stop this from happening.

-Chris Scott

As you know, the Senate Budget Committee is threatening to cut $4 billion from the President’s budget that would otherwise be used to fight poverty. You can call your senators here. Maryam Aminu from our Government Relations team provides some analysis and background on the Kerry-Lugar amendment.

-Chris Scott

This is going to be a very important week for us who belong to ONE. In February, President Obama made a promising request to Congress for $53.8 billion dollars for the International Affairs (150) account, which funds most of the programs we care about including PEPFAR, Malaria, debt relief, basic education and child survival. It represented a $4 billion increase from the $49.8billion in total spending in 2009. Last week, the House and Senate Budget Committees released their budget resolution with very disappointing allocations for the 150 account. The Senate allocated $49.8 billion, which is a flat-line from last year, which means that we would not be able to increase the number of people with AIDS on ARV treatment and make progress on ending Malaria deaths in Africa, among other important programs that will be stalled. In the House, we are facing an even worse situation.

The good news is we have an opportunity to change these numbers. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) have introduced an amendment to restore $4 billion to the 150 account, which would bring it back up to the level of President’s request of $53.8 billion in the Senate bill. If the amendment passes, the 150 account will have a better chance of receiving an increase, when they reconcile the House and Senate budget resolutions and begin the appropriations process. The amendment will come to the floor this Wednesday or Thursday. We will need to secure 60 votes to pass the amendment. We need your voice now! As a Senate constituent and ONE member, you have the chance, with a simple phone call, to deliver your Senator’s much needed vote to get us to 60 and close the deal. Tomorrow when you get the budget alert from ONE, make haste and make your call to your Senator. Then ask your family and friends to call too. Last year, we won the vote by a huge margin of 73-23. Let’s try and win another decisive victory this year!

-Maryamu Aminu, Government Relations

The Senate Budget Committee, chaired by Senator Kent Conrad, wants to cut $4 billion from the president’s International Affairs Budget—the part of the budget funding almost all of our anti-poverty work, from fighting global AIDS to making sure the hunger crisis doesn’t turn into a starvation crisis.

This is an outrage we don’t have to stand for. A bipartisan amendment now in the Senate would restore the full $4 billion to the president’s International Affairs budget, and it’s going to be voted on as soon as Wednesday. Your voice, as a constituent and a ONE member, is the most powerful force there is in support of this amendment.

Please call your senators right now and ask them to vote for the Kerry-Lugar Amendment to restore the cuts to the budget and keep America’s promise to the developing world, helping end global poverty and preventable diseases.

Check back on the ONE Blog for further news and analysis about this extremely disheartening development—and our work to make sure stop this cut.

-Josh Peck

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.

(more…)

President Obama’s 2010 budget outline, which was just released, indicates a reaffirming of Obama’s commitment to double foreign assistance during his time in office.

Key excerpts from the just-released budget outline:

By increasing foreign assistance the United States will reach out to the global community and renew its role as a leader in global development and diplomacy. Through increased foreign assistance funding, the United States will embark on several new initiatives that will give children in the poorest countries access to education ensuring they can participate in the global marketplace; foster global food security through sustainable agriculture; expand goodwill and inspire service by increasing the size of the Peace Corps; and stabilize post-conflict states, creating room for them to plant the seeds of democracy.

The full details of the 2010 budget aren’t known yet, but we’ll keep you posted with further analysis.

-Chris Scott

We’ve just seen a copy of President Obama’s remarks and wanted to make sure ONE members saw the excerpts below that deal with global poverty and America’s role in the world.

In words and deeds, we are showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun.  For we know that America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America…

To meet the challenges of the 21st century – from terrorism to nuclear proliferation; from pandemic disease to cyber threats to crushing poverty – we will strengthen old alliances, forge new ones, and use all elements of our national power…

As we stand at this crossroads of history, the eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon us – watching to see what we do with this moment; waiting for us to lead.

Earlier this year, more than 102,000 ONE members signed petitions to President Obama asking him to make a clear affirmation in his inaugural address of his pledge to fight global poverty and preventable diseases, and to back up those words with his Fiscal Year 2010 budget. After his strong statement in that inaugural address and his words tonight, we continue to hope that the budget President Obama submits to Congress in a few days time will put the U.S. on track to meet his historic anti-poverty commitments.

-Aaron Banks