Washington, DC – Sheila Nix, U.S. Executive Director of The ONE Campaign, a non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to fighting extreme poverty and preventable disease, today issued the following statement:

“At ONE we like to imagine a world where infants and children no longer die from malaria, where all babies are born HIV-free and those who currently live on $1.25 a day have found economic opportunity. The 2011 budget that passed Congress yesterday preserves much of the funding that can help turn imagination into the next concrete step to reality.

“We commend Congress and the President for acting on the importance of providing basic vaccinations to children, preventing and treating HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, and providing families with advanced farming techniques to better feed their families and improve their economic futures.

“There was a very real threat that Congress would severely slash these projects. In the end, because these are projects that work and are measurable, they remained in the budget for this year.

“Now we turn to the new battle of the budget for 2012. Congress has difficult decisions to make on behalf of the United States. They have to establish priorities and make tough choices. As they did in the 2011 debate, ONE members will be in the forefront encouraging lawmakers to protect the less than one percent of the budget that saves millions of lives and helps pave a pathway up and away from extreme poverty.”