Earl Blumenauer: “yesterday we heard the new president of Liberia, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, discuss the challenge her country…”

“yesterday we heard the new president of Liberia, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, discuss the challenge her country faces from the greatest threat to human health in the world. It wasn't AIDS, tuberculosis, even the people shot and bombed in armed conflict. It was the needless death from water-bourne disease. It is why one half the people who are sick today are ill. It has claimed more lives than all the wars in human history. Today we start the World Water Forum in Mexico City. Currently; the State Department is at work preparing a plan for the United States to meet its commitment to safe drinking water and sanitation around the world. I hope our Congress reflects upon our responsibility to prevent this needless death, and that we step up to adequately fund these important programs in our foreign aid budget. ____________________”