Obama bill: $845 billion more for global poverty
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | February 14, 2008
 
 

Sen. Barack Obama, perhaps giving America a preview of priorities he
would pursue if elected president, is rejoicing over the Senate
committee passage of a plan that could end up costing taxpayers
billions of dollars in an attempt to reduce poverty in other nations.

The bill, called the Global Poverty Act, is the type of legislation,
"We can – and must – make … a priority," said Obama, a co-sponsor.

It would demand that the president develop "and implement" a policy
to "cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015 through aid, trade,
debt relief" and other programs.

When word about what appears to be a massive new spending program
started getting out, the reaction was immediate.

"It's not our job to cut global poverty," said one commenter on a
Yahoo news forum. "These people need to learn how to fish themselves.
If we keep throwing them fish, the fish will rot."

Many Americans were alerted to the legislation by a report from Cliff
Kincaid at Accuracy in Media. He published a critique asserting that
while the Global Poverty Act sounds nice, the adoption could "result
in the imposition of a global tax on the United States" and would
make levels "of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates
of the United Nations."

He said the legislation, if approved, dedicates 0.7 percent of the
U.S. gross national product to foreign aid, which over 13 years he
said would amount to $845 billion "over and above what the U.S.
already spends."

The plan passed the House in 2007 "because most members didn't
realize what was in it," Kincaid reported. "Congressional sponsors
have been careful not to calculate the amount of foreign aid spending
that it would require."

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