Obama's Global Poverty Act/Tax

Senator Barack Obama introduced in December a bill that would impose a tax on America to reduce poverty in the world.  The bill would require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive policy to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015 through aid, trade, debt relief, and coordination with the international community, businesses and NGOs according to Sen. Obama.  Gov Tracks, reports the bill is in the first stage of the legislative process so I'm not sure why the article below says its up for a Senate vote today.  Yesterday, the Committee on Foreign Relations ordered the bill to be reported out of committee with amendments favorably.  I will follow this bill with interest.

"A nice-sounding bill called S. 2433, the Global Poverty Act of 2007, sponsoret by Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations.   

Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not endorsed either Senator Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. But on Thursday, February 14, he is trying to rush Obama's "Global Poverty Act" (S.2433) through his committee. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends.   

...A release from the Obama Senate office about the bill declares, "In 2000, the U.S. joined more than 180 countries at the United Nations Millennium Summit and vowed to reduce global poverty by 2015. We are halfway towards this deadline, and it is time the United States makes it a priority of our foreign policy to meet this goal and help those who are struggling day to day."   Source

You can review the Mellenium Declaration here.  One thing that strikes me is that it lists all the goals of the U.N. for a more peaceful and just world but it left off religious freedom. 

Freedom. Men and women have the right to live their lives and raise their children in dignity, free from hunger and from the fear of violence, oppression or injustice. Democratic and participatory governance based on the will of the people best assures these rights.

...We resolve therefore:

• To strengthen respect for the rule of law in international as in national affairs and, in particular, to ensure compliance by Member States with the decisions of the International Court of Justice, in compliance with the Charter of the United Nations, in cases to which they are parties.

This may be far-fetched but I don't think so, some Muslim groups want the U.S. to be forced to abide by the global rules of the U.N.. 

We have got to keep our eyes on this, for sure.

Update 2/25/08:  Two conservative members of the U.S. Senate have anonymously placed a hold on Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) global poverty bill, Cybercast News Service has learned.

...Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media, a conservative media watchdog, said S. 2433 has been getting "a pass" from Congress. It received absolutely no scrutiny in the House last fall, when it was passed on a voice vote, and no scrutiny last week in the Senate, when the Foreign Relations Committee also passed it on a voice vote.

Comments

[Robert (Jamie) Munro]

So you think that the USA should give less than the 0.7% agreed by all the other rich nations?

Robert (Jamie) Munro