Major Vote On Global Aids Funding Tomorrow In Senate: Please Help!

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Jamila

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Whether through ONE and/or the Global AIDS Alliance, WE NEED YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW!


Please call your Senators and let them know how you feel:


SUPER URGENT ACTION ALERT!!!

Fund the Fight against HIV/AIDS

Contact your Senators TODAY and TOMORROW!


Ask that they support the Dodd-Smith Amendment to allow full funding
of the 2008 International Affairs Budget
Issue:


The House and Senate Budget Committees have "marked-up" their versions
of the FY2008 Federal Budget, including recommendations for funding
levels
for the U.S. International Affairs Budget. Unfortunately, both have
decided
to approve LESS than the $36.2 billion that President Bush requested
for the
International Affairs Budget.



In fact, the Senate committee cut the
most from
this budget, proposing $2.2 less than the President's request.

If this stands, it could be devastating for global health and poverty
programs.



The International Affairs budget includes a wide range of
international programs,
and if the overall size of this account is reduced there will be
pressure to
cut vital health and poverty programs. Nearly all the US funding
for the
fight against AIDS comes out of this budget.



The full amount requested by the President is needed for this account
because
there are escalating, unmet needs across the globe including the
HIV/AIDS
pandemic and other health threats that pose a threat to the US as
well, such
as XDR-TB.


If the overall amount is reduced, there will be much
less
flexibility to meet these needs, including for the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS TB
and Malaria. Appropriators in Congress will have much less ability
to
increase funding for specific items that the President has proposed
cutting,
like family planning.



Take Action:

We must reverse the Senate's cut!

Tomorrow, Friday March 23, the entire Senate will vote on the budget
that
passed the budget committee. So far, eleven Senators (D's: Dodd,
Clinton,
Feinstein, Durbin. R's: Smith, Coleman, Stevens, Lugar, Brownback,
Sununu,
Collins) have said they will back an amendment that would restore
that
critical $2.2 billion.


This amendment does not cut from domestic health funding to increase
global funding. We need your Senators to support this amendment.
Please
call your Senators today to ask them to support the Dodd-Smith
Amendment
during the floor vote on the 2008 budget resolution, in order to
restore
$2.2 billion to the 150 account (the international affairs account).



Call 202-224-3121 and ask for the office of your Senator. (If you
don't
know who they are, you can find out at www.senate.gov).


Remember -
you
do not need to be an expert to make these calls. Just speak from the
heart.
With enough calls we can affect this vote and win.



What to Say:

My name is ______________ and as your constituent I am calling to ask
to ask
you to support the Dodd-Smith Amendment during the floor vote on the
2008
budget resolution. This amendment will restore $2.2 billion to the
International
Affairs Budget and would provide the full amount requested by the
President.


Our nation can no longer afford to shortchange our international
programs;
people's lives here and abroad depend on it.



Please email
grassroots@globalaidsalliance.org
to let us know you called!

GAA, March 22, 2007

----------------------------------------------------

I hope that you will STAND UP and raise your voice on this most important issue!


:bonodrum: :hi5:
 
The same action alert from ONE:


The Senate is debating the 2008 budget resolution; the final vote is expected tonight or tomorrow. The bad news is the Senate Budget Committee cut $2.2 billion from the international affairs budget below the president's request. This cut is a real blow to poverty focused development assistance.


The good news is that Senators Chris Dodd (D -CT) and Gordon Smith (R -OR) are introducing an amendment that would return the $2.2 billion dollars to the international affairs budget to support critical poverty-fighting and diplomatic funding. But the vote for the Dodd-Smith amendment will be in the next 36 hours and in the time that remains, only calls to Senate offices will make a difference.


Call your senators' offices at 1-800-786-2663 and ask them to vote "Yes" on the Dodd-Smith amendment. Then click here to register your call.


The Dodd-Smith amendment represents hundreds of thousands of lives. Call your senators' offices and use the following talking points:

• Ask them to support the Dodd-Smith amendment to restore $2.2 billion to the international affairs budget.

• Tell them you strongly believe that investing in the world's most vulnerable people will help build a better, safer world for us all.

• Make sure to emphasize the urgency of this issue. This funding is vital for providing: access to clean water and sanitation, education, life-saving medicines, and most of all, the opportunity for a hopeful future.



In some cases, a single phone call at the right time can make the difference between a "Yes" and "No" vote. Please take just two minutes to make a call to your senators' offices.

Call your senators' offices at 1-800-786-2663 and ask them to vote "Yes" on the Dodd-Smith amendment.


Thank you for your voice,

Josh Peck, ONE.org :up:
 
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