[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1078 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1078

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a Global 
Marshall Plan holds the potential to demonstrate the commitment of the 
                 United States to peace and prosperity.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2008

   Mr. Ellison (for himself, Mr. Moran of Virginia, and Mr. Cleaver) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a Global 
Marshall Plan holds the potential to demonstrate the commitment of the 
                 United States to peace and prosperity.

Whereas, after World War II, the United States established a program to provide 
        for the reconstruction of Europe, named after General George C. Marshall 
        and commonly referred to as the ``Marshall Plan'', which has been hailed 
        by leaders of World War II allied and enemy countries as the most 
        magnanimous act by the United States in history;
Whereas by providing assistance to Europe through the Marshall Plan, the United 
        States recognized the direct link between economic growth and political 
        stability, thereby investing resources into economic development and 
        assistance;
Whereas the Marshall Plan made possible new measures of international 
        cooperation through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other 
        institutions that have enhanced the security, freedom, and prosperity of 
        the United States and the world;
Whereas the United States has established foreign assistance programs, as 
        described in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, with a goal of the 
        ``encouragement and sustained support of the people of developing 
        countries in their efforts to acquire the knowledge and resources 
        essential to development and to build the economic, political, and 
        social institutions which will improve the quality of their lives'';
Whereas annual United States appropriations for foreign development assistance 
        in its many forms, whether considered as a proportion of the Federal 
        budget or as a proportion of gross domestic product, never again have 
        reached the levels seen during the first years of the Marshall Plan;
Whereas more than 1,000,000,000 people worldwide live on less than $1 per day, 
        and another 1,600,000,000 people struggle to survive on less than $2 per 
        day, according to the World Bank;
Whereas at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, the United States 
        joined more than 180 other countries in committing to work toward the 
        United Nations Millennium Development Goals to improve life for the 
        world's poorest people by 2015;
Whereas the United Nations Millennium Development Goals include the goal of 
        reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 
        and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day, cutting in half the 
        proportion of people suffering from hunger and unable to access safe 
        drinking water and sanitation, reducing by two-thirds child mortality, 
        ensuring basic education for all children, and reversing the spread of 
        HIV/AIDS and malaria, while sustaining the environment upon which human 
        life depends;
Whereas United States citizens and nongovernmental organizations have proposed a 
        new Global Marshall Plan, including--

    (1) providing enough funding to eliminate global poverty, homelessness, 
hunger, inadequate education, and health care, plus restoring the global 
environment;

    (2) creating international nongovernmental mechanisms for receiving 
funds contributed through foreign aid and alternative sources of financing, 
and for distributing such funds in a way that is environmentally sensitive, 
respectful of native cultures, safeguarded against corruption, protected 
from manipulation to serve elite interests, and empowering of the people in 
each region;

    (3) revising existing trade and other agreements in which the United 
States is currently involved so that such agreements favor improving the 
lives of the poor of the world; and approaching future agreements with like 
intent;

    (4) creating a greatly expanded Peace and Justice Corps of the United 
States that would provide ways for people with useful skills to volunteer 
two years at any age toward the goals of the Global Marshall Plan;

    (5) providing training to foreign militaries to become experts in 
ecologically sensitive construction of those aspects of their own societies 
that need relief and reconstruction, including agriculture, health care, 
housing, infrastructure, education, computers, and other appropriate 
technology; and

    (6) providing training to children and adults worldwide in techniques 
of nonviolent communication, diversity, environmental sustainability, 
family and parental support, stress reduction, emergency health techniques, 
diet and exercise, and caring for others who are in need of help; and

Whereas the attacks against the United States that occurred on September 11, 
        2001, and the subsequent global war on terrorism, have enhanced United 
        States strategic concern for the economic and political future of 
        countries worldwide: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the United States House of 
Representatives that--
            (1) the elimination of poverty and hunger, assurance of 
        basic health and education for all, and resolution of 
        environmental crises remain key foreign policy goals for the 
        United States;
            (2) a Global Marshall Plan holds potentially transformative 
        power of a reinvigorated, comprehensive approach to foreign 
        development assistance that would demonstrate the commitment of 
        the United States to peace and prosperity to people who may 
        have doubted the dedication of the United States to those 
        ideals; and
            (3) a Global Marshall Plan must operate within the ethical 
        framework of generosity and magnanimity, not merely of 
        instrumentality, and to be successful and must be perceived as 
        more than a new attempt to extend influence into the world.
                                 <all>