FY2011 US budget

On Saturday, Arizona ONE members gathered at the Barton-Burr Library downtown Phoenix to exchange ideas on educating their communities and reaching out to their elected representatives to do something about needless global poverty and preventable diseases.

Attendees addressed hand written letters to both Senator McCain and Senator Kyl asking them to urge Senator Cochran to ensure $56.65 billion is appropriated for the state and foreign operations bill. Immediately thereafter a highly engaged audience began planning two education and recruitment events through July.

Something tells me we can expect to see something a little different from ONE members in Arizona. Congrats on a successful workshop! We are all very excited about things to come.

Former Senate Majority Leaders from opposite sides of the aisle — and longtime ONE champions — Tom Daschle and Bill Frist write in Politico this week that in order to achieve a smart, effective U.S. foreign policy, Congress should fully fund the International Affairs Budget, the portion of the budget that supports America’s fight against global poverty.

Senators Frist and Daschle argue that helping the world’s poorest people help themselves is not only consistent with our values and is part of America’s global legacy of saving lives, but is also very much in our security and economic interests.

The senators write:

“As the military does its job in stabilizing troubled states, vigorous humanitarian and diplomacy efforts can ensure that we build a lasting peace by strengthening communities and governments, reinforcing the foundations for growth and opportunity and neutralizing those who wish our country harm.

“Our foreign assistance dollars pay strong dividends economically, as well. Americans’ security and prosperity are tied to the security and prosperity of people around the globe…Today, developing countries represent 40 percent of U.S. exports. Programs supported by the international affairs budget increase economic opportunities, promote our business interests around the world and create U.S. jobs through increased exports.”

For the past several weeks, ONE members across the country have been contacting their members of Congress in support of the International Affairs Budget. This week’s op-ed by Senators Frist and Daschle is another reminder that this portion of the budget is affordable, effective and something both Republicans and Democrats can agree on. As the former Majority Leaders say, “Republicans and Democrats have long worked together to make a difference in the world through humanitarian efforts, and those investments have paid off. In the past 50 years, child deaths worldwide have been reduced by more than half; polio has been nearly eradicated…For a small fraction of slightly more than 1 percent of the federal budget, our investment in helping others to help themselves overseas is one of the most cost-effective ways our government can keep us both safe and prosperous.”

I recommend reading the whole piece here.

This came in from Hawaii volunteer Kekoa Cambra!

Last weekend, I attended a conference where I had the opportunity to help bring more Hawaiians to the fight to end extreme poverty. There I also had the extra privilege to be able to meet with Senator Inouye personally and express my concern with budget committee leaders decision to cut $4 billion from the International Affairs Budget for 2011. Talking to Senator Inouye, I was humbled to realize the gravity our senator’s decision holds for our own country as well as for the developing world.

I was at the conference with fellow Hawaiian ONE members Alicia, Joe, Sue, Kekoa and Falisha and we all talked to and encouraged the attendees to join ONE and add their name to our petition to Senator Inouye. A large number of them listened to what we had to say, signed the petition and thanked us for advocating for the world’s poorest people.

Since Senator Inouye hold so much sway in the U.S. budget process, every signature on this petition from a Hawaiian resident has extra power. I am honored to be able to work with so many great ONE members and help sign up more names.

Mahalo nui loa (Thank you very much)

Kekoa Cambra, Hawaii ONE Member

ONE members’ dedication and commitment to the fight against global poverty never ceases to amaze me – or members of Congress for that matter! Volunteers from DC, Virginia and Maryland took their lunch breaks today to deliver the Fix the Budget petitions to the Senate encouraging senators to sign on to the bipartisan Kerry Lugar letter in support of the president’s International Affairs Budget request, and thanking current cosigners (29 so far!)

Your voice is heard online AND offline when we take your petition signatures directly to your elected officials in Washington. Thank you to all those who have added their names to the petition, and a big thanks to our DC area ONE volunteers! Keep up the good work reaching out to your senators in DC, and follow up with them when they’re home for the upcoming holiday! GO ONE!

Less than 1.5% of the total U.S. Budget goes to International Affairs. Yet short-sighted Budget Committee leaders are singling out this 1.5% for deep cuts, threatening programs critical to the health and survival of millions around the world.

Tell your senators these cuts are unacceptable. Then ask your friends and family to do the same. The well-being of millions is at stake and every voice counts. Thanks for all you do.

As you might have noticed scrolling across the front page of our website, ONE just launched an important new campaign called “Fix This Budget” in response to proposed cuts to the budget that would target the accounts we care about most—those that fight poverty and disease across the developing world. In the midst of economic crises rippling across the US and Europe, it might be easier politically to make cuts to the relatively tiny international affairs budget than to other, bigger accounts. But when you start to take a closer look at what the proposed budget cut looks like in human terms, suddenly it’s harder to explain away.

Take the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria—one of the most successful weapons we have in the fight against global disease, and a key recipient of US funding from the international affairs account. President Obama has proposed $1 billion for valuable Global Fund programming in Fiscal Year 2011—certainly a good chunk of money, but below the $1.75 billion we are asking for. So on top of that, let’s look at what even a ONE PERCENT cut to the President’s request would mean:

• 63,000 fewer bed nets to protect families from malaria +
• 15,000 fewer treatments for malaria +
• 8,000 fewer treatments for TB +
• 37,000 fewer HIV tests +
• 1,100 fewer antiretroviral drugs for people infected with HIV

If that’s not compelling enough, add just a ONE PERCENT cut to the GAVI Alliance—a leading international mechanism improving access to life-saving vaccines for children across the developing world—could result in either:

• 304,054 fewer doses of pentavalent vaccine (5 primary childhood vaccines: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hepatitis B, and Hib (pneumonia))

or

• 128,571 fewer doses of the new vaccine for pneumococcal (which kills 800,000 kids under 5 annually)

It’s easy to walk away from percentages, but it’s much more difficult to walk away from the people whose lives could be improved and saved from the key interventions we fund with our international affairs budget. Sign on to our petition now to let your Senators know that you will hold them accountable.

We need your help. As we’ve mentioned before, less than 1.5% of the total U.S. Budget goes to International Affairs. Yet short-sighted Budget Committee leaders are singling out this 1.5% for deep cuts, threatening programs critical to the health and survival of millions around the world.

Fortunately, there’s still time to fix this budget. Tell your senators these cuts are unacceptable. Our message to the Senate is simple:

Please fix this budget by signing the bipartisan appropriations letter, sponsored by Senators Kerry and Lugar, that supports full funding for the State-Foreign Operations bill.

This funding is a drop in the bucket in terms of the overall U.S. Budget, about 1.5%. But its impact on the world is huge. It covers all ONE priorities such as debt relief for countries including Haiti; life-saving treatment and prevention measures for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; and programs empowering women, promoting agricultural development, and enrolling millions of children in school.

Please add your voice here.

It’s been an unbelievably busy budget season. First there was the administration’s $58.5 billion International Affairs budget (the 150 Account) request for FY2011 in February. Then there were lots of powerful calls, in support of the account, to the Congressional leadership, and the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Budget Committees— letters, 42 retired military leaders, 8 former Secretaries of State, and Senators and Representatives from both sides of the aisle. The chorus of support also strongly featured 150 ONE partners and friends, and not the least, meetings, phone calls, tweets and petition signings and deliveries from ONE members all across the country.

There’s still some work to do: two weeks ago, Senator Conrad proposed a big cut of $4 billion to the 150 Account. It is also important to note that it was the ONLY cut to the entire discretionary budget. We’ve got to let the Senate know that this slash is a big mistake—particularly when you look at the whole picture.

Out of the entire US budget, the funds for International Affairs make up less than 1.5%.

It’s about half of what Americans spend on fast food per year.

That’s an unbelievably small sliver of a whole budget pie.

We’ll be posting much more about the budget and appropriations process over the coming weeks and months. But don’t forget to spread the word to your family, friends and colleagues. : let’s fully fund the International Affairs Budget for FY2011. After all, it’s only 1.5% of the whole budget. Now that’s one teeny piece of pie.

Last month, we asked ONE members to petition their Senators to sign a bi-partisan letter to Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Ranking-Member Judd Gregg (R-NH) of the Senate Budget Committee. This letter urged them to fully fund the administration’s request of $58.5 billion for international affairs (also known as the 150 account). Thanks to your hard work and energy, over 40,000 ONE members secured signatures from 31 Senators.

Then two weeks ago, under the leadership of Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), the Senate Budget Committee passed a Senate budget resolution which included a $4 billion cut to discretionary spending, the entire amount of which was taken from the President’s $58.5 billion request for international affairs (the 150 account). Of equal concern to us, last Friday, Congressional Quarterly reported that Congressman Spratt, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, said if given an opportunity to move a House budget, his committee will likely maintain this $4 billion cut to the 150 account.

ONE is strongly protesting this misguided cut. The 150 account funds all diplomatic and peacekeeping operations, and our priorities such as debt relief for countries like Haiti, life-saving treatments to assist impoverished people infected or affected by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; and other poverty-fighting programs that empower women; provide food aid and promote agricultural development and enroll millions of children in school. In short, the 150 account demonstrates America’s values of helping the least among us, and helps stabilize fragile regions to strengthen our national security.

But it’s not over. 31 Senators have already made our point, and now we must see this through. ONE members have some serious work to do in the next few weeks to restore the international affairs budget request to $58.5 billion. We’ve learned that if Senator Conrad’s budget proposal goes to the floor for a vote, it will happen with very short notice. The good news is that we have strong bi-partisan champions in the Senate who will likely sponsor an amendment to restore the $4 billion cut. If that happens, we need all ONE members to be ready to contact their Senators, at a moment’s notice, and help deliver the votes to restore the account to the administration’s request. We’ve done this before and have won every time. This time is just as important- so stand by for the alert!

Ten letters from Rhode Island ONE members were hand delivered today to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s office in Providence, RI. The letters thanked Sen. Whitehouse for his support of President Obama’s $58.5 billion FY 2011 request for the International Affairs budget, funding for the 150 account and for his leadership as a signatory to the bipartisan support letter to Sen. Conrad and Sen. Gregg earlier this month.

Thanks again to everyone that made it out to the Providence workshop and took part in this important action.