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Meeting the Challenge to End Poverty in Africa
McDermott Introducs the Answer Africa's Call Act
House of Representatives - June 30, 2005
Extension of Remarks

Mr. Speaker, America has before it a rare opportunity of historic and humanitarian proportion. The opportunity is so great, and the outcome so important, that we cannot, we must not, we will not, see this as a Democrat or Republican issue.

When it comes to meeting the challenge to end poverty in Africa, there is only America- united.

The President can assume command at the upcoming G-8 Summit in Scotland with bold steps to unite nations in this World of One War- defeating the global enemy of poverty which starves, maims and kills tens of thousands, mercilessly and indiscriminately, in Africa every day.

Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized countries will meet in Scotland to discuss making a long-term, multilateral commitment to fight poverty in sub Saharan Africa.

Let America today shine brighter than the torch on the Statue of Liberty. Let America unite mankind to save humankind. Let the President stand up and demand- not discuss- action.

Demand action not because we are arrogant, but because we see the pain in Africa's faces and rush in compelled to act. Demand action not because we are bullies, but because we are burdened by the grief of a billion people starving on one dollar a day. Demand action not because we are the mightiest nation on earth, but because the rivers of Africa flow with tears of sorrow over the dead and dying. And no amount of weaponry can stop the pain, only people can.

The President can unify the world to fight this just and noble war against disease, malnutrition, and economic injustice in sub Saharan Africa.

The richest nations on earth, which throughout history placed self interest ahead of Africa's interest, cannot undue the past, but can make a bold commitment to the future. In one defining moment of courage and conviction, the President can unite the world to commit the financial and humanitarian resources that can begin to wipe out poverty in Africa.

Mr. Chairman, more and more African oil fuels the engines of our global economy. The industrialized nations have a long history of extracting Africa's natural resources to fulfill our desires.

From bauxite to diamonds, and from copper to cocoa, the world has fed off the resources of Africa, even as Africans starved before our eyes.

While the world benefits from raw commodities found in Africa nations, including the United States, have policies that keep Africans from adding value to these commodities that would benefit their continent and people. Rich nations benefit more from African materials than the Africans themselves do.

For far too long our farm and trade regimes have hindered African development and injured the African people in countless ways.

We've made progress improving trade laws in recent years; we are negotiating at the World Trade Organization now for ways to reform our farm programs which currently distort trade and deny opportunities to African farmers struggling to compete in a global economy.

We have difficult work ahead on farm reforms, and more to do to provide access to our markets for African farm products. Many of Africa's agricultural products still face steep, insurmountable and unacceptable tariffs. But reducing tariffs and farm subsidies imposed by rich nations cannot begin to help Africa overcome the magnitude of its economic and humanitarian crisis.

Investments in health and infrastructure are vitally necessary. We can help with these investments. And we can help in ways that improve outcomes for Africans.

I am talking about the immediate and critical need for money in the form of assistance and financial aid, and let me say something that may shock some of you. I agree with the Heritage Foundation- not exactly a Democratic organization- when it points to the mis-steps and mishaps of the past. But haven't we learned from those mistakes?

Weren't many of those mistakes made within the context of Cold War politics with priorities different than those we seek today?

There were times when the best of intentions by nations including America ended up creating greed, not combating poverty.

America has learned and so has the rest of the world. Today, there are organizations, systems and people above reproach. You need only look to the extraordinary work of the Gates Foundation in my District in Seattle to see what is possible and effective.

Today, the only thing standing in the way of action is inaction, and we can change that. The need has never been greater and the time is now for America to lead the world to Answer Africa's Call.

That is why I on behalf of Democrat Leaders today introduce the Answer Africa's Call Act.

The Act would create a five-year, $6 billion annual revenue stream that would fund the International Finance Fund, or the IFF. The new money from this legislation would not be subject to annual appropriations and would not increase the national debt.

This approach is brand new and it gives the President and the United States the freedom, flexibility and ability to make good on the necessary long-term commitment to combat poverty in Africa. This war cannot be won in a year and it cannot be held hostage to an annual budget process that may be blind to the ravages of hunger, deaf to the cries for help and immune from the scourge of disease.

Mr. Chairman, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission on Africa proposed an agency to channel funds from the G-8 into programs proven effective at reducing poverty. The Commission's idea is a good one and a smart, multi-nation approach in Africa will pay huge dividends down the road.

The Answer Africa's Call Act recognizes America's role and responsibility, and accepts it by giving the President an arsenal of aid and humanitarian weapons to attack poverty in Africa as never before, once and for all.

Africa's poverty and economic desperation is the greatest tragedy of our time. By comparison, the world, and especially the United States, is wealthy on a scale never before been seen in human history.

We live in a world where new medicines and medical techniques have eradicated many diseases and ailments in rich countries, even as Africa weeps while some four million children under the age of five die each year, two-third of them from illnesses which can be treated or wiped out for almost nothing.

Malaria is the biggest single killer of Africa's children, and half those deaths could be avoided simply with access to diagnosis and drugs that cost about a $1 per dose.

We live in a world where rich nations invested in successful research and development of drugs to combat and control one of the most devastating diseases ever seen, AIDS. Yet in Africa, where 25 million people are infected with AIDS, anti-retroviral drugs are not made generally available, meaning two million people will die of AIDS this year.

Mr. Chairman, we live in a world where rich nations spend a billion dollars a day subsidizing the unnecessary production of unwanted food, while in Africa a billion people starve trying to survive on a dollar a day.

Hunger is responsible for more deaths in Africa than all the continent's infectious diseases put together. Despite the rhetoric about how the United States has tripled aid for Africa, a Brookings Analysis shows that aid has roughly increased by only 50 percent since 2000.

This is a good start, but we must do more. We contribute far less of our national income to foreign assistance than most developed nations. That's not meant as a slap against the President; it's meant as a call to action.

I'm a medical doctor and bound by a sacred oath to act to save lives when I can.

The G-8 meeting provides President Bush an extraordinary opportunity to demonstrate our commitment and determination to reduce poverty in Africa. Next week he could make America proud by declaring our unwavering support for the recommendations of the Commission on Africa at the G-8 Summit.

Let America lead the world toward a common destiny: to end poverty across Africa. Let us act before another life is lost, before another child goes hungry, is born with HIV/AIDs, or is orphaned when parents die from hunger, disease or hopeless despair.

Let us walk together on a road that leads to Africa's destiny, a continent where people no longer suffer and die from hunger and poverty. Let us resolve today to take the first of many steps as one world to end poverty in Africa, so that Africans may wake each day to a world where the sun shines on their hopes, dreams and future.

Surely, America's compassion can shine across Africa.

Unquestionably, America can lead a global fight against poverty in sub Saharan Africa. But we need the courage of our President. I implore him to act.