Recent Developments

 Last Updated: July 3, 2006

The beginning of July marks the one-year anniversary of the Live8 concerts, when millions of people gathered around the world to call on world leaders to take bold action in the fight against global poverty.  Congress is not on track to fulfill the commitments that our country made then.

On June 29, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its State Department/foreign operations bill. According to Bread for the World's preliminary analysis, the bill includes approximately $11 billion in poverty-focused development assistance, $1 billion more than in 2006. Much of the additional funding is for global health programs. Long-term development assistance and funding for international organizations were reduced from last year's levels. The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), at $1.9 billion, was cut significantly from the president's request of $3 billion. The Senate funding level is slightly below the House appropriation of $2 billion for the MCA.

On June 9, the House passed its appropriations bill for foreign operations. The House budget of $21.3 billion also includes approximately $11 billion for poverty-focused development assistance. This increase of just under $1 billion is a step in the right direction, but far short of the $5 billion increase needed to keep our country's promises to the developing world.

U.S. assistance for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is included in two appropriations bills � the foreign operations account and the Labor/Health and Human Services (HHS) budget. The House Appropriations Committee passed its Labor/HHS bill on June 13.

According to Bread for the World's analysis, the bill included $312 million in poverty-focused development assistance, allocated to the Centers for Disease Control's global health initiatives. However, the bill did not include any 2007 funding for the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In contrast, $99 million was allocated to the Global Fund in 2006.

Last year, President Bush made a commitment to double assistance to developing countries by 2010. These funds are urgently needed by some of the poorest families in the world. Congress should do what is necessary to keep these commitments, beginning with a substantial increase in poverty-focused development assistance in the next fiscal year.

Summary of the Campaign:

One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty., our Offering of Letters for 2006, calls on Congress to approve an additional $5 billion in poverty-focused development assistance for fiscal year 2007. This increase is needed to get the United States on track to honor our international commitments: doubling assistance to Africa and the developing world by 2010 and helping to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.  Even in a time of fiscal constraint, the United States can always afford to keep its promises to the world's hungry and poor people.

Poverty-focused development assistance includes the Development Assistance and Child Survival accounts, the Millennium Challenge Account, and initiatives to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.  According to Bread for the World's analysis, the administration's FY 2007 budget request included an increase of about $2 billion for poverty-focused development assistance.

Public Support for Additional Spending on Global Poverty is Strong and Bipartisan

A recent bipartisan national poll of likely voters by the Alliance to End Hunger showed that 67 percent favor investing an additional  1 percent of the federal budget in effective programs to reduce hunger, poverty and disease in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  See www.alliancetoendhunger.org for the full report.

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What is this Offering of Letters about? 

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