LOUISVILLE — The
Rev. Susan R. Andrews, moderator of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (USA), joined nine other religious leaders
last week in pressing the White House, the State Department and
the Congress to maintain full funding of the Bush administration’s
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and global HIV/AIDS initiative.
The March 25 series of meetings on Capitol Hill was organized
by Bread for the World (BFW), a faith-based anti-hunger organization.
“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 the Rev. David Beckmann,
BFW’s president. “We are now seeking the commitment
of our nation’s leaders to provide the promised funding
to ... help the world’s poorest people.”
According to a BFW press release, the group met with National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice; Undersecretary of State Alan
Larson, interim director of the MCA; Ambassador John Lange, a
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.”
Andrews said in a telephone interview that it was “a privilege
to be part of such a broad-based group” and was impressed
that representatives of a variety of denominations “managed
to agree on what we could agree on, and to not worry about what
we don’t agree on — a pretty good model for the Presbyterian
church.”
She said Rice, a Presbyterian deacon who “knew who I was
and responded to me as a Presbyterian,” reassured the delegation
“that the administration is fully committed to keeping the
funding goals it set for this year and for the program as a whole.”
Andrews said she feels that the effort was “worthwhile,”
and she urged Presbyterians to pressure their representatives
and administration officials to see that the government follows
through on its commitments of international aid.
President Bush outlined the MCA during the United Nations Development
Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2002, pledging a 50 percent
increase in foreign aid over three years — a total of $10
billion by 2006. At Bush’s request, however, Congress appropriated
just $1 billion this year. The president has requested only $2.5
billion for 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, as in the case of the MCA, follow-through
has been lacking. Funding for fiscal 2004 was $2.4 billion; the
2005 request is for $2.8 billion.
“Now the crunch is on to find the money, and the president
has not been pushing hard enough to keep his own promises,”
Beckmann said.
“We have three messages,” said Bishop John Ricard
of Pensacola, FL, head of the international policy committee for
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Keep your promises,
keep your promises, and keep your promises.”
In addition to Andrews, Hanson, Beckmann and Ricard, the delegation
included the Rev. Frederick Borsch of the Episcopal Church USA;
the Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council
of Churches; the Rev. Major L. Jemison, president of the Progressive
National Baptist Convention; the Rev. Glenn Palmberg, president
of the Evangelical Covenant Church; Bishop Lawrence L. Reddick
of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; and Bishop Peter
D. Weaver, president-elect of the United Methodist Council of
Bishops.
The full text of a letter the delegation delivered to Congressional
leaders:
We are writing to ask you to ensure that the Millennium Challenge
Account and the global AIDS initiative receive full funding in
fiscal year 2005 without any cuts to ongoing humanitarian and
development assistance. Without your help this covenant between
our country and our neighbors in the poorest parts of the world
is in jeopardy.
As leaders of nine Christian denominations, we were brought
together on March 25, 2004, by Bread for the World in order to
meet with Senators Mike DeWine and Dick Durbin, and with Bush
administration officials including Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Ambassador
Randall Tobias and Under Secretary of State Alan Larson.
Together we represent over 80 million members of major Protestant
and Roman Catholic religious bodies, and we are committed to using
the public voice of the Church to increase our nation’s
engagement with poor countries and people living with HIV/AIDS.
We are in agreement that the persistence of abject hunger, poverty
and disease in God’s world must be considered a moral outrage
and a threat to our national security.
We were called to our nation’s capital because together
we recognize a graced moment —the opportunity before us
to reduce hunger, poverty and disease in poor countries. We believe
that the core concepts embodied in the Millennium Challenge Account
represent an opening to deliver effective aid. We believe as well
that the global AIDS pandemic coupled with rising rates of other
infectious diseases demands a significant expansion of effort
by the nations of the world, including our own.
We ask you to exercise leadership now and work with other
conferees to include the Senate level for International Affairs
in the final budget resolution. We also ask you to make sure the
allocation for the Foreign Operations appropriations committee
is no less than the president’s request of $21.3 billion.
In the days ahead we will pray for you, and hope that you
will take our shared concerns to heart as you make decisions about
the priorities of our nation.
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