Global Poverty Act of 2007

Floor Speech

GLOBAL POVERTY ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - September 25, 2007)

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of the Global Poverty Act, and want to explain first what the bill does and then why it is so important. It declares the 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 poverty in half by 2015. It requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to carry out this policy. It 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.

It also requires that the President's strategy include specific and measurable goals, efforts to be undertaken, benchmarks and time tables. And, lastly, it requires that the President report back to Congress biannually on the progress made in the implementation of the global poverty strategy.

There are nearly 2.7 billion people in the world who are living on less than $2 a day. There are close to a billion who are living on less than a dollar a day. Arguably, there is no greater problem facing the globe right now than poverty and the vast number of people who suffer from it, the countries and communities who, every day, get up, simply wondering whether or not they and their children are going to live to see the end of that day. It causes instability, disease, and all kinds of problems from one end of the globe to the other.

But the other thing that is simply immoral is that there are this many people on that level of despair and on that level of poverty. And we in the United States have the power to at least try to help, and we are, in many, many ways.

I actually want to thank the President for the Millennium Challenge accounts, an effort to try to make sure that countries not just get foreign aid but use it wisely; the efforts to fund prevention of AIDS in Africa. The PEPFAR effort that's been going on for a number of years is a significant step forward.

We also have a large number of organizations and groups that are trying to combat global poverty. We have the world coming together in many ways as it never has before to try to combat this menace.

As mentioned, the U.N. set out their millennial development goals. The G8 set global poverty as its prime purpose a couple years ago. We have groups like the Gates Foundation and Results and Bread for the World and a large number of other organizations that are combating global poverty from every conceivable angle. And they are learning a lot as they do. They are learning what works, what moves forward, what doesn't work, what the best way to spend money is.

We are in the position, I believe, to consolidate those resources to get the maximum return on our effort to reduce global poverty. And I feel that the United States of America should be, not just a leader, but the leader in this effort.

And we have, as I mentioned, done a lot. But the one thing we haven't done is stated clearly and unequivocally that eliminating global poverty, or at least reducing it, is going to be a foremost goal of our foreign policy; and we have not implemented a comprehensive plan. It's great that there are so many different organizations working at this problem from a variety of different angles; but if we could bring that together, we could get more out of those resources. And I think the United States should coordinate that effort.

I want to thank a large number of people for helping make this happen. Certainly Chairman TOM LANTOS has been a tremendous leader on these issues and has been very helpful in this particular piece of legislation, as has the ranking member, ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, and the Republicans on the committee. This is a bipartisan effort. I want to thank Representative Bachus, who I believe is going to speak, he and I were the original two sponsors on this bill, stepped up and helped.

I think this is something that we can come together on, and I think it is very, very important that the United States takes this leadership role. I believe if we do so we will be able to better combat global poverty, and I also think we will be better able to build alliances throughout the world and let the world know that the United States wants to use its power for the betterment of the entire world, not just ourselves. And we're willing to work with them on this problem that affects so many different countries throughout the world.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank and again appreciate the efforts of my Republican colleagues and agree with their comments. A comprehensive strategy is what we are looking for here, and that is certainly trade, efforts at economic development, capacity-building to help countries figure out how to better use trade, microcredit. There are a lot of different strategies out there that can be employed. Certainly aid and debt relief are part of it but not the only part. In fact, the better part is when you can figure out how to make the economies work, how to make the governments work in these countries so that they can begin to develop their own economies and grow and lift themselves out of poverty in that manner. That is more sustainable and more long term. I personally believe that aid and debt relief will continue to be a significant part of the strategy for a while, but certainly the goal is also to be as comprehensive as possible and employ economic means to help lift people out of poverty as well.

I also think the other exciting thing about all this is the possibility of public-private partnerships, and I do not envision personally that the Federal Government or any federal government will wind up being the sole or even necessarily the leading organization in terms of driving the dollars out. We have a large number of groups, in my own neck of the woods, the Gates Foundation to the tune of over $30 billion, that are pumping money into a variety of different ideas to help alleviate global poverty. Nongovernmental organizations are making an enormous difference, and I would hope that the strategy would reflect that public-private partnership to maximize those resources.

And, lastly, I just want to agree with what Representative Bachus said at the close there about how this does impact all of us. Instability leads to all manner of problems in the world, and poverty leads to instability more quickly than anything else. It is in our best interests to try to alleviate that instability and bring greater fairness, justice, and economic opportunities to the world. And I sincerely believe that this bill will have that effect, and I urge all Members of the body to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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