1.This Act may be cited as the
Global Poverty Act of
2007
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2.Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)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.
(2)At the United
Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, the United States joined more than 180 other
countries in committing to work toward goals to improve life for the world’s
poorest people by 2015.
(3)The year 2007
marks the mid-point to the Millennium Development Goals deadline of
2015.
(4)The
United Nations
Millennium Development Goals include the goal of reducing by one-half the
proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, that 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 child mortality
by two-thirds, ensuring basic education for all children, and reversing the
spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria, while sustaining the environment upon which
human life depends.
(5)On March 22, 2002,
President George W.
Bush
statedBush participated in the International
Conference on Finance for Development and endorsed the Monterey Consensus,
stating: We fight against poverty because hope is an
answer to terror. We fight against poverty because opportunity is a fundamental
right to human dignity. We fight against poverty because faith requires it and
conscience demands it. We fight against poverty with a growing conviction that
major progress is within our reach.
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(6)The 2002 National Security Strategy of the
United States notes: [A] world where some live in comfort and plenty,
while half of the human race lives on less than $2 per day, is neither just nor
stable. Including all of the world’s poor in an expanding circle of development
and opportunity is a moral imperative and one of the top priorities of U.S.
international policy.
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(7)The 2006 National
Security Strategy of the United States notes: America’s national
interests and moral values drive us in the same direction: to assist the
world’s poor citizens and least developed nations and help integrate them into
the global economy.
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(8)The bipartisan Final Report of the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
released in
2004 recommends: A comprehensive United States strategy
to counter terrorism should include economic policies that encourage
development, more open societies, and opportunities for people to improve the
lives of their families and enhance prospects for their
children.
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(9)At the summit of
the Group of Eight (G–8) nations in July 2005, leaders from all eight
participating countries committed to increase aid to Africa from the current
$25,000,000,000 annually to $50,000,000,000 by 2010, and to cancel 100 percent
of the debt obligations owed to the World Bank, African Development Bank, and
International Monetary Fund by 18 of the world’s poorest nations.
(10)At the United
Nations World Summit in September 2005, the United States joined more than 180
other governments in reiterating their commitment to achieve the
United Nations
Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
(11)The United States has recognized the need
for increased financial and technical assistance to countries burdened by
extreme poverty, as well as the need for strengthened economic and trade
opportunities for those countries, through significant initiatives in recent
years, including the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.),
the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of
2003 (22 U.S.C. 7601 et seq.), the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative,
and trade preference programs for developing countries, such as the African
Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.).
(12)In January 2006,
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice initiated a restructuring of
the United States foreign assistance program, including the creation of a
Director of Foreign Assistance, who maintains authority over Department of
State and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) foreign
assistance funding and programs.
(13)(12) In
January 2007, the Department of State’s Office of the Director of Foreign
Assistance added poverty reduction as an explicit, central component of the
overall goal of United States foreign assistance. The official goal of United
States foreign assistance is: To help build and sustain democratic,
well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce
widespread poverty and conduct themselves responsibly in the international
system.
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(14)Economic growth
and poverty reduction are more successful in countries that invest in the
people, rule justly, and promote economic freedom. These principles have become
the core of several development programs of the United States Government, such
as the Millennium Challenge Account.
3.It is the policy of the
United States to promote the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of
extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal
of reducing by one-half the proportion of people
worldwide, between 1990
and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.
4.Requirement to
Develop Comprehensive Strategy
(a)The President, acting through the Secretary
of State, and in consultation with the heads of other appropriate departments
and agencies of the United States Government, international organizations,
international financial institutions, the governments of developing and
developed countries, United States and international nongovernmental
organizations, civil society organizations, and other appropriate entities,
shall develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United
States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty,
the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people
worldwide, between 1990
and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.
(b)The strategy required by subsection (a)
shall include specific and measurable goals, efforts to be undertaken,
benchmarks, and timetables to achieve the objectives described in subsection
(a).
(c)The strategy required by subsection (a)
should include the following components:
(1)Continued investment or involvement in
existing United States initiatives related to international poverty reduction,
such as the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and
Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7601 et seq.), the Millennium Challenge Act of
2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.), and trade preference programs for developing
countries, such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3701 et
seq.).
(2)Improving the
effectiveness of development assistance and making available additional overall
United States assistance levels as appropriate.
(3)Enhancing and
expanding debt relief as appropriate.
(4)Leveraging United
States trade policy where possible to enhance economic development prospects
for developing countries.
(5)Coordinating
efforts and working in cooperation with developed and developing countries,
international organizations, and international financial institutions.
(6)Mobilizing and
leveraging the participation of businesses, United States and international
nongovernmental organizations, civil society, and public-private
partnerships.
(7)Coordinating the goal of poverty reduction
with other development goals, such as
combating the spread of preventable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,
and malaria, increasing access to potable water and basic sanitation, reducing
hunger and malnutrition, and improving access to and quality of education at
all levels regardless of gender.with the other
internationally recognized Millennium Development Goals, including eradicating
extreme hunger and reducing hunger and malnutrition, achieving universal
education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child
mortality, improving maternal health, combating the spread of preventable
diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, increasing access to
potable water and basic sanitation, ensuring environmental sustainability, and
achieving significant improvement in the lives of at least 100,000,000 slum
dwellers.
(8)Integrating principles of sustainable
development and entrepreneurship into policies and programs.
(d)
(1)
(A)Not later than 1 year
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President, acting through the
Secretary of State, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a
report on the strategy required under subsection (a).
(B)The report required under subparagraph (A)
shall include the following elements:
(i)A
description of the strategy required under subsection (a).
(ii)An
evaluation, to the extent possible, both proportionate and absolute, of the
contributions provided by the United States and other national and
international actors in achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing
by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live
on less than $1 per day.
(iii)An assessment
of the overall progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goal of
reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015,
who live on less than $1 per day.
(2)Not later than
December 31, 2012, and December 31, 2015, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees reports on the status of the
implementation of the strategy, progress made in achieving the global poverty
reduction objectives described in subsection (a), and any changes to the
strategy since the date of the submission of the last report.
(e)The
Secretary of State shall designate a coordinator who will have primary
responsibility for overseeing and drafting the initial report under paragraph
(1) of subsection (d) and subsequent reports under paragraph (2) of such
subsection, in coordination with relevant Federal agencies, as well as
responsibility for helping to implement recommendations contained in the
reports.
5.In this Act:
(1)Appropriate
congressional committeesThe
term appropriate congressional committees means—
(A)the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
(B)the Committee on
Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
(2)The term
extreme global poverty
refers to the conditions in which
individuals live on less than $1 per day, adjusted for purchasing power parity
in 1993 United States dollars, according to World Bank statistics.
(3)The term
global poverty
refers to the conditions in which individuals
live on less than $2 per day, adjusted for purchasing power parity in 1993
United States dollars, according to World Bank statistics.
(4)Millennium
development goalsThe term Millennium Development
Goals means the goals set out in the United Nations Millennium
Declaration, General Assembly Resolution 55/2 (2000).
Amend the title so as to read:
An Act to require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive
strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the
reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the
proportion of people, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per
day.
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April 24, 2008
Reported with amendments and an amendment to the
title