Great News!

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held their business meeting this morning. Good news to report: both the Global Child Survival Act and the Global Poverty Act passed through committee!

-Erin Erlenborn

Rep. Bachus on the Global Poverty Act

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), a long-time champion in the fight against global poverty, and a lead sponsor of the Global Poverty Act gave a great speech on the House’s floor yesterday.

An excerpt:

“Today in dozens of poor countries all over the world, little boys and girls are born into poverty, disease, and hunger. Hopelessness and despair are their daily companions. Their burdens are day-to-day, they are painful, and they are heavy.

In debating debt relief, I quoted Sister Rebecca Trujillo. She was asked – how do the poor get through the day, how do they survive? Her answer was: “Since being in Nicaragua, I have taken to answer in a matter of fact way, ‘Often they do not.’ ”

We’re fond of saying we’ve had a really bad day. But we ought to be reminded that for billions of people throughout the world that even on our worst days, we have more food, more shelter, more clothes, more security, more health care, more of everything than our poor brothers and sisters have on their best days….

Reducing global poverty is in our economic interest and our national security as well. The bill will focus our battle against global poverty. It is a powerful statement that Americans are committed to making this world a better place for all.”

Read the full statement after the jump…

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Rep. Smith on the Global Poverty Act

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Global Poverty Act of 2007, H.R. 1302. This bill states for the first time that reducing global poverty and eliminating extreme global poverty are among our foremost foreign policy goals and that the President must create a strategy to further those goals.

As ONE Campaign community members, you probably already know the numbers – that more than a billion people live on less than a dollar a day, and nearly 3 billion people live on less than 2 dollars a day. You know that extreme poverty breeds instability and that it is in our national interest to alleviate that instability.

But more than anything, you know – and I agree – that when we live in a world with such vast resources, the existence of such deep and widespread poverty is a moral affront. And yet, current U.S. policy does not require an overall strategy to focus our resources and provide accountability to our efforts to confront the menace of global poverty. This bill, should it pass in the Senate and receive the President’s signature, will change that.

The Global Poverty Act passed by a voice vote on the House floor, illustrating the bipartisan support behind the measure. That means that the goal of ending worldwide extreme poverty and reducing global poverty in general has broad bipartisan support, in part thanks to your efforts to weigh in with your public officials.

I hope you are as encouraged by the House’s passage of the Global Poverty Act as I am. I’ll be pushing in the weeks ahead to get the Senate to pass the Global Poverty Act, and I hope you’ll join me by contacting your Senators directly. Thank you for your work. If you want to see my remarks in support of the bill, feel free to visit.

Sincerely,
Adam Smith
Member of Congress

Poverty Act Passes House!

The Global Poverty Act passed by voice vote in the House just now!

Back in June, ONE members wrote letters to key representatives to move this bill out of committee and ONE super volunteers have been working to move the bill ahead for months. During today’s debate, members of Congress gave ONE partners Bread for the World and RESULTS well-deserved shout outs for their excellent work on the legislation.

Note: A Global Poverty Act must be introduced and passed in the Senate, as well, in order for this act to turn into the law.

What would the act do you ask? We’re one step ahead of you, so check out the below. As always, throw questions or comments into the comment thread.

What the Global Poverty Act does:

• Declares it official U.S. policy to promote the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme global poverty in half by 2015.
• Requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to carry out that policy.
• Includes guidelines for what the strategy should include - from aid, trade, and debt relief, to working with the international community, businesses and NGOs, to ensuring environmental sustainability.
• Requires that the President’s strategy include specific and measurable goals, efforts to be undertaken, benchmarks, and timetables.
• Requires the President to report back to Congress annually on progress made in the implementation of the global poverty strategy.

Global Poverty Act on the Floor

Representative Smith and Representative Bachus and several of their colleagues are speaking on the floor now about the Global Poverty Act.

Watch on TV on live online on C-Span.com.

The bill would require the U.S. government to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce global poverty.

Something Shaking on the House Floor

Farm Bill — The House is debating the rule to consider the Farm Bill now. The Fairness Amendment will be the first amendment considered after the rule is passed.

News on other ONE priorties:

GROWTH Act — Senator Hutchison has agreed to co-sponsor the GROWTH Act bill with Senator Durbin. One of our super volunteers, hand delivered 4,672 letters from ONE members asking Sen. Hutchison to be the lead cosponsor of the bill!

Global Poverty Act - is scheduled for markup on Tuesday, July 31st — We have been working to build committee support for this bill so that it will pass through committee unopposed.

-Erin Erlenborn, ONE Government Relations Director