Kendrick Meek: “as we consider funding for U.S. foreign aid programs, I hope that Congress will remember the needs of children and enact…”

“as we consider funding for U.S. foreign aid programs, I hope that Congress will remember the needs of children and enact the World Summit for Children Implementation Act. We have all seen the pitiful photographs and the television videotape of children in other countries who are the helpless victims of poverty, ignorance, and war--little children who enter life with great hopes but few chances, and who suffer terribly because they lack the most basic of human needs--nourishing food, safe water, basic vitamins, immunization from disease, rudimentary sanitation, and basic education. But we do not have to accept present reality. Progress has been made. Worldwide, child mortality rates have been cut in half in the last three decades. Eighty percent of the world's children are immunized against disease, saving 3 million children annually. We need to continue this progress, and we can do it by implementing the goals of the World Summit for Children Implementation Act. This is something we ought to do.”