Victory!

Dear ONE Member,

Incredible news: at 4:12 this afternoon, the Kerry-Lugar Amendment to restore the $4 billion previously cut from the International Affairs Budget—the source of almost all U.S. international anti-poverty funding—passed the Senate in a unanimous voice vote.

Thousands of ONE members called their senators over the past 48 hours, helping convince the entire U.S. Senate to back President Obama’s record-breaking request for funding to fight global poverty. Here at ONE, we particularly want to thank poverty-fighting champions Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar, who leaped into action with this critical amendment as soon as the part of the budget funding global anti-poverty programs came under fire.

Join other ONE members on the ONE Blog to celebrate this big win, and find out what else is going on in anti-poverty activism:

http://www.one.org/blog/2009/04/01/victory/?id=892-2718592-6_DKQZx&t=2

This isn’t just a victory for us; it’s a victory for the millions of people who will lead healthier, more productive lives because of U.S.-supported AIDS medicine, schools, infrastructure projects, clinics, and other smart, efficient development projects funded by the International Affairs Budget.

Fifteen other senators joined Senators Kerry and Lugar as co-sponsors, building momentum for this life-saving amendment: Bernie Sanders, Ted Kennedy, Joe Lieberman, Jeff Bingaman, Barbara Boxer, Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey, Bob Corker, Chris Dodd, Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, Ted Kaufman, Patrick Leahy, Robert Menendez, and George Voinovich.
Their leadership, combined with your voices, was a formula for victory in our ongoing partnership with the developing world to end poverty and disease.

Thank you for your voice,
Josh Peck, ONE.org