6 Down, 54 To Go...

We're close. For months you've been pushing
Congress to fund the fight against poverty in
2008. And now we are days away from securing
$39.8 billion - $3.9 billion over last year's
international affairs budget - the largest increase
in recent history.

Six senators, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chuck
Hagel (R-NE), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Gordon Smith
(R-OR), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), and Norm
Coleman (R-MN), are taking the lead by writing
a letter encouraging their colleagues in the Senate
to support this critical funding.

Please take a minute to ask your senator to sign on to this letter.

The international affairs budget contains almost
all the funding America devotes to poverty focused
development assistance - the money that so directly
translates into lives saved and countries transformed.
It's not a band-aid for extreme poverty, it's smart aid
that attacks it at its roots. By contributing our share
to this type of funding, in partnership with other
nations, we can put 77 million children in school and
save 16,000 lives a day by combating AIDS, TB, and
Malaria.

You scored an important victory in March when you
convinced the Senate to agree to put $39.8 into the
budget. Now they need to translate the budget into
real dollars. The Senate Appropriations Committee
leadership does just that. They write the check.

Write your senators urging them to allocate $39.8 billion.

A year ago ONE members mobilized around a very
similar letter and 52 senators signed on in support.
This year we're hoping to get 60 senators to co-sign
the Feinstein-Hagel-Durbin-Smith-Dodd-Coleman
letter supporting the largest increase in recent history.

We have 6 senators now, 54 to go. You can track our
progress, as it happens, on the ONE Blog.