Church leaders press Prez and Congress on global poverty promises to keep

Social justice news
April 2004

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Church leaders press Prez and Congress
on global poverty promises to keep
WASHINGTON – Bread for the World, a faith-based anti-hunger organization, convened a group of nine top leaders from Catholic, Evangelical, and Protestant religious bodies that went to the White House, the State Department and Capitol Hill on March 25, pressing to keep the administration’s funding promises for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and global HIV/AIDS initiative. The church leaders worked together conveying the message that our nation’s political leaders have church support for obtaining the promised funding and that they considered the effective, timely implementation of these new initiatives a sacred trust.

"The Bush administration has set new standards for fighting hunger, poverty, and disease around the world with the MCA and its global HIV/AIDS programs," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, a faith based anti-hunger group. "We are now seeking the commitment of our nation’s leaders to provide the promised funding to carry out these initiatives to help the world’s poorest people."

The group met with White House National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Undersecretary of State Alan Larson who is the interim director of the MCA, Ambassador John Lange, deputy U.S. global AIDS coordinator, and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL).

"We made it clear to Dr. Rice and other officials that ending the cycle of poverty that creates widespread hunger and diseases like AIDS is a moral issue for us as people of faith," said Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "This is our witness. We expect our nation’s leaders to respond and fulfill the promises they have made."

President Bush outlined the MCA at the United Nations Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002, pledging a 50 percent increase in foreign assistance funding over the next three years totaling $10 billion by FY 2006. There was a $1 billion appropriation in FY 2004 and a $2.5 billion administration budget request for FY 2005.

In 2003, President Bush signed into law the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS Act which authorizes $15 billion over 5 years, including $3 billion in 2004. But, like his MCA funding, this dramatic increase in HIV/AIDS funding appears to be lacking. For FY 2004 the finding was $2.4 billion and the FY 2005 request is $2.8 billion.

As Congress deliberates the funding process for FY 2005, church leaders will continue to work for the funding promised and needed to address the moral issue of our time, reducing hunger, poverty and disease in the world’s poorest countries.

"Now the crunch is on to find the money, and the president has not been pushing hard enough to keep his own promises," said the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

"We have three messages," said Bishop John Ricard of Pensacola- Tallahasee, Florida, head of the international policy committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "Keep your promises, keep your promises, and keep your promises."

Today, there are more than 800 million undernourished people in the world and 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS.

In 2004, Bread for the World celebrates 30 years of seeking justice as Christian voice for ending hunger. A nonpartisan citizens' movement of 50,000 people of faith including 2,500 churches, BWF members help hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers on legislation that addresses hunger in our communities and around the world.

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