Global Poverty Act of 2007

GLOBAL POVERTY ACT OF 2007 -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 26, 2007)

[Page: E1988]

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SPEECH OF
HON. TOM LANTOS
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2007

* Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and good friend from Washington, Congressman Adam Smith, for this legislation and his commitment to ending poverty worldwide.

* The statistics are hard to believe: More than one billion people worldwide still struggle to survive on less than $1 per day, and another 1.6 billion eke out a living on less than $2 per day.

* So, close to three billion men, women, and children--or a population 11 times the size of our own nation--awake each morning to little or no food, dirty water, inadequate shelter, and a lack of rudimentary health care. The entire international community should be ashamed at this massive failure.

* Alleviating crushing poverty around the globe is our most profound moral imperative. Our unending compassion as an American people and our position as the world's sole remaining superpower demand it.

* But more than just an appeal to our generosity should move us to pass this bill through the House of Representatives today: Reducing poverty around the world is in our national interest.

* Persistent poverty gnaws at the bodies of men and women, making them vulnerable to global infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, that demand our resources and threaten health around the globe.

* And the despair that inevitably accompanies stifling poverty also chews at the souls of the afflicted, making them vulnerable to ideologies of hate that foment violence around the world.

* For all these reasons, we must support this bill. This legislation makes it a central U.S. foreign policy goal to eliminate extreme poverty and to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which this Administration has committed to time and again.

* Many observers have noted that the Millennium goals are ambitious. But the only way to even come close to achieving them is to remain committed--as a Congress and as a nation--to addressing poverty head-on.

* This legislation requires the Administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to eliminate extreme global poverty. And it calls on the Administration--and future Administrations--to present to Congress the specific steps it has taken to develop and implement its strategy.

* The bill enumerates several methods that serve as a blueprint for the overall strategy: development policies, continued investment in key programs, debt relief, and coordination with international organizations.

* We could all glance at the statistics I mentioned earlier, shrug our shoulders, and shake our heads. But this Congress will not settle for apathy and indifference. We will use our generosity and our foreign policy to lift up the people in extreme poverty who deserve our immediate attention.

* I strongly urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

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