February 2009: Urge your senators and representatives to weigh in on foreign aid funding priorities
With a global economic crisis showing no signs of abating, this will be a critical year to speak up for maintaining and expanding our commitments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals for the world’s poor. The economic slowdown is a double threat to the poorest, as it both constrains their economic opportunity and tempts donor countries to cut back on investments in foreign aid. Write letters to your members of Congress, urging them write to the key decision-makers who determine foreign aid funding priorities — the chair (from majority party) and ranking member (from minority party) of the House and Senate Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittees. Ask for their support for global health, economic opportunity, and education for all priorities for fiscal year 2010 (FY10) foreign aid spending bill. If your senator or representative is a member of the Appropriations Committee, ask him/her to include these priorities in the “wish list” he/she submits.
Why Appropriations MatterAt the Millennium Summit in 2000, the U.S. pledged support for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to cut extreme poverty and hunger in half by 2015. President Barack Obama has promised to make the MDGs the goals of the United States. This will require new funding and renewed political will to meet the health, economic opportunity, and education needs of the world’s poorest. The foreign aid funding bill, known as the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, is the most important annual opportunity to increase resources for improving the health and livelihood of the poor. This legislation provides funding for lifesaving, community-stabilizing international health programs, basic education, microfinance, and other development assistance. All members of Congress can have an important voice in shaping this bill by writing to and speaking with the leaders on the subcommittee before they begin drafting the 2010 bill. If members of Congress express support for our critical priorities, it will help build momentum and allow leaders to be bolder. Members of Congress who sit on the Appropriations Committee have a special opportunity to weigh in on these issues. These members have the opportunity to submit “wish list” letters to the chair of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee. These special personal communications between members of Congress are given careful consideration and are an extremely powerful way to influence decisions that will impact millions of lives as well as our U.S. security. Please note: Some member of Congress have special paper or online forms to use when submitting appropriations requests. In addition to sending your letter, check with your member of Congress to see if they have request form that you should complete. Also check on their deadlines for submission. Contact the D.C. legislative staff for help or questions. Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and MalariaFY10 Request: $2.7 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. The multilateral Global Fund is one of the most effective ways the U.S. invests in global health. Since its creation in 2001, the Global Fund has provided over 2 million people with treatment for AIDS, 4.6 million people treatment for tuberculosis, and helped distribute 70 million mosquito bed nets to prevent malaria. Last year, the Global Fund completed its biggest funding round ever, awarding $2.7 billion to countries that had submitted proposals approved by an independent review panel. This historic success has left the Global Fund without adequate resources to continue financing bold proposals to fight AIDS, TB, and malaria — unless the U.S. and other donors act. The U.S. must provide our full one-third fair share (based on the size of our economy) to the Global Fund to continue to expand the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. TuberculosisFY10 Request: Provide $650 million for scaling up critical U.S. supported efforts to control TB. In 2008, the passage of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde U.S. Leadership Act Against AIDS, TB and Malaria authorized $4 billion in bilateral (country-to-country) TB funding over five years. To reach this authorized level, Congress must begin to scale up TB funding as envisioned in this historic legislation. TB — the world’s deadliest curable infectious disease among adults — kills 1.7 million people each year. People living with HIV/AIDS are particularly susceptible to TB infection. The rise of drug-resistant strains of TB is a result of a lack of investment in effective TB control programs. Economic OpportunityFY10 Request: At least $500 million for microfinance and microenterprise programs, with fifty percent benefiting the very poor as directed by the Microfinance Results and Accountability Act of 2004. Microfinance is a successful, economically sustainable tool to help the very poor (those living on less than $1.25 a day) lift themselves out of poverty and improve the lives of their families. As the economic crisis has shrunk available credit, public investment in microfinance programs for the poorest families is essential to helping them start and expand their own small businesses. Education for AllFY10 Request: Provide $2 billion for basic education funding, with half directed to countries with approved Fast Track Initiative national education plans. Education is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty and disease and promote democracy and development. In much of Africa and in many other poor countries, school fees, and other costs create enormous barriers to accessing education for the poor, girls, the orphaned, and other vulnerable children. The Fast Track Initiative supports poor countries to develop, implement, and monitor bold national education plans to get children in school and helps close financing gaps in countries’ national education budgets. |