Rob Andrews: “Mr. Chairman, the story of boys and girls living on the street and starving to death in our culture is a matter of…”

“Mr. Chairman, the story of boys and girls living on the street and starving to death in our culture is a matter of fiction. It is the story of Oliver Twist. But for huge numbers of people in the world today, it is not a matter of fiction; it is a matter of fact. Seventy percent of the world's population lives in countries where the per capita income in 1 year is equal to what Americans make in a month. Seventy percent of the people live in desperate poverty, and many of those people live in countries where the debt owed by those countries to Western lending institutions is huge. I commend the chairman and the ranking member for their initiative in the Millennium Challenge Account. By putting $1.25 billion into debt relief for these struggling countries, this is not only an act of human mercy; it is an act of economic intelligence that will benefit our own country as well as the people living in these very troubled and destitute countries. So I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) in the majority. I thank my dear friend, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), in the minority. I urge a 'yes' vote on the bill.”