$1.29 a day
GovTrack: S. 2433: Text of Legislation
Wow, talk about a ruckus over at FRC. Whats really scary, is I used to contribute to them….
Assuming the figure is $845 billion, and being I have yet to find a GAO analysis, its a big unknown what the real cost will be, I find the outrage more than a bit out of line. If one were to ask a grade school kid, if they would give $1.29 a day to help others in the world who were not so fortunate, the vast majority would probably be for it. Then if you told them that it will help folks who live on under $1/day, even more youngsters would no doubt chime in.
Granted, there are legitimate concerns, there also exists tie-ins to other UN programs, which can raise additional concerns. Yet, the biggest outrage seems to be cost…. It really makes me wonder.
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Please note the strong support from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – ranking Democrat and Republican members Biden and Lugar, plus Dems Dodd, Feingold, Menedez, Obama and Republican Hagel. Absent includes Minnesota’s Norm Coleman which would not be a surprise if you have read my commentaries … most recently last week. Coleman is a disservice to the country by sitting on that important committee.
Would this funding be in addition to already announced programs ? Bush launched a five-year, $1.2 billion plan in 2005 to cut malaria deaths in half in the hardest-hit countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. It leverages private sector support to provide indoor spraying, cutting-edge drugs and vouchers for a 75 percent discount off the purchase of insecticide-treated bed nets. Congress so far has put $425 million into the plan and Bush says it has reached 25 million people in two years.
The FRC comment states that it opposes the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW is a UN Resolution `to incorporate the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system, abolish all discriminatory laws and adopt appropriate ones prohibiting discrimination against women; to establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against discrimination; and to ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organizations or enterprises’.
To date, over 180 countries have ratified the agreement.
The United States is the only industrialized country that has not ratified CEDAW. By not ratifying, the US is in the company of countries like Iran, Sudan, and Somalia. Senator Klobuchar has indicated her support for passage, but she is not on the Foreign Relations committee which has jurisdiction. Senator Coleman has not responded to my request for action.
The FRC may be concerned as their could be some “birth control†aspects of the program that may not be being highlighted. Funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which distributes contraceptives and performs other services has been a problem.
Comment by Minnesota Central — February 22, 2008 @ 10:18 am