[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12841]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     SENATOR PAUL SIMON WATER FOR THE WORLD ACT OF 2013 (H.R. 2901)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, 5 years ago, if someone asked what a bow 
tie-wearing progressive Democrat from Oregon and my colleague Ted Poe, 
a cowboy, boot-wearing conservative Republican from Texas, could agree 
on, you would have said, Not much.
  Today, we are partners on an issue, however, that makes sense 
regardless of your politics: ensuring sustainable, equitable access to 
clean water for nearly 800 million women, children, and men who don't 
have it and the 2.5 billion without even the most basic sanitation 
services. Ted Poe and I think that politics should stop with water. 
That's why, today, we are introducing the Paul Simon Water for the 
World Act of 2013 (H.R. 2901).
  Since Congress passed the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act in 2005, 
the United States has become a global leader in efforts to increase 
access to clean water and sanitation, developing and implementing some 
of the most innovative approaches to help those in greatest need. We 
must not only maintain this progress but work to further refine and 
focus the efforts at USAID and at the Department of State by enacting 
the World Act.
  We are committed because dirty water and a lack of sanitation affects 
all areas of development assistance. This is especially the case when 
it comes to women and children. More children are killed by waterborne 
disease than any other. Increasing access to clean water and sanitation 
has a significant multiplier effect on other areas of development, 
enabling us to do more with less--critical in a time of constrained 
budget resources.
  Every day, the world has more people but fewer freshwater resources. 
Our bipartisan legislation will give the United States the capacity to 
avoid unnecessary loss of life and conflict in the future. It would 
ensure that water, sanitation, and hygiene programs are reflected in 
other development assistance; prioritize long-lasting impacts of United 
States foreign aid dollars; and increase the focusing on monitoring, 
evaluation, transparency, and capacity building.
  Children cannot attend school if they're sick from dirty water. Half 
the world's hospital beds today are filled with people suffering from 
waterborne disease needlessly. Hours spent getting water are hours not 
working or in school.
  A lack of clean drinking water has a disproportionate effect on 
women, who, in developing countries, walk an average of 3.7 miles a day 
to get water. The estimates are that 40 billion working hours are lost 
each year in Africa alone--200 million hours today.
  Having water means girls can go to school and build a better future. 
It also reduces the risk of violence and sexual assault. A study by 
Doctors without Borders found that 82 percent of the women and girls 
treated for rape in West and South Darfur were attacked while they were 
gathering water or firewood.
  The challenge is not getting easier, because 97 percent of the water 
on Earth is salty and unfit to drink. Of the 2\1/2\ percent, roughly, 
of the Earth's water that is fresh, two-thirds of that is frozen--
locked away in the ice caps and glaciers. Although it's rapidly melting 
because of climate change, that's not going to help us, because it will 
be largely salty as well. We've got less than 1 percent of global 
freshwater available for human use; and because of the demands for 
growing food, energy and industry, only about one-tenth of a percent is 
available for people to drink. This tiny fraction is further diminished 
by deficient or nonexistent water infrastructure. Even in the United 
States, we waste 6 billion gallons of freshwater every day through 
leaky pipes. We are entering an era of severe water scarcity that the 
Department of Defense warns could lead to global insecurity.
  In short, Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more fundamental to families 
and global health than clean water and sanitation. More needs to be 
done, and it needs to be done well. Taxpayers, understandably, demand 
better results and greater transparency from foreign aid. This bill 
provides the tools and incentives to do just that.
  We urge our colleagues to adopt our motto--``politics stops at 
water''--and support this effort. This magnitude will take a team 
working together, united in the goal of saving lives and improving 
communities around the world. Please join us in this critical 
legislation, the Paul Simon Water for the World Act (H.R. 2901).

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