WASHINGTON – The ONE Campaign applauds today’s passage of the Electrify Africa Act in the US House of Representatives. The bill passed by a margin of 297-117, garnering the support of members of both parties.

Tom Hart, US Executive Director of ONE, said:

“Today, both parties came together and passed a bill that not only promises to save and improve millions of lives, but offers a new way forward for assisting Africa – government working with private sector investment – at no cost to US taxpayers.

The Electrify Africa Act is a transformative piece of legislation that would help Africa provide electricity to 50 million people for the first time. We are deeply grateful to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) for sponsoring the bill and House leadership for taking action on this critical issue.

Tackling energy poverty is absolutely critical to ONE’s core mission of fighting global extreme poverty. We often hear from African leaders, citizens, and global development experts that one of the biggest challenges for overcoming extreme poverty is the inability for millions of people to access the basic electricity necessary to power hospitals, schools, factories, farms, and businesses.

We now urge the Senate to introduce and pass a similar piece of legislation as soon as possible.”