William Luther: “I merely want to say that currently more than one billion people, one-fifth of the world's population, live in extreme…”

“I merely want to say that currently more than one billion people, one-fifth of the world's population, live in extreme poverty. And that is what we are talking about here this evening. As long as poverty continues to plague the world, there will not be a lasting peace, there will not be the kind of stability that we all want, not to mention the pain and suffering in the lives of so many people and families. What is great about the microcredit program is that it is not a handout. It is in fact start-up loans that will be repaid by the people. It is basically using precious foreign aid dollars in the best possible way that we can spend them. Now, what this amendment would do and why I think it makes so much sense is it would bring the level of this particular category up to the authorized level, as already pointed out, that has been passed by this Congress. And I would submit that there is no more cost-effective way for us to provide for the self-sufficiency of the people of the world and to spread democracy around the world than to do this very thing that is being proposed here, all at the same time while we are improving the lives of our fellow inhabitants of the world.”