I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3605 
To require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy 
to further the United States foreign policy objective of vastly reducing 
global poverty and eliminating extreme global poverty, to require periodic 
reports on the progress toward implementation of the strategy, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2005 
Mr. SMITH of Washington (for himself and Mr. BACHUS) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 
A BILL 
To require the President to develop and implement a com-
prehensive strategy to further the United States foreign 
policy objective of vastly reducing global poverty and 
eliminating extreme global poverty, to require periodic 
reports on the progress toward implementation of the 
strategy, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Global Poverty Act 
of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) More than one billion people worldwide live 
on less than $1 per day, and another 1.6 billion peo-
ple struggle to survive on less than $2 per day, ac-
cording to the World Bank. 
(2) At the United Nations Millennium Summit 
in 2000, the United States joined more than 180 
other countries in committing to work toward goals 
to improve life for the world’s poorest people by 
2015. 
(3) Such goals include reducing by one-half the 
proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 
2015, that live on less than $1 per day, cutting in 
half the proportion of people suffering from hunger 
and unable to access safe drinking water and sanita-
tion, reducing child mortality by two-thirds, ensuring 
basic education for all children, and reversing the 
spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria, while sustaining 
the environment upon which human life depends. 
(4) On March 22, 2002, President George W. 
Bush stated: ‘‘We fight against poverty because hope 
is an answer to terror. We fight against poverty be-
cause opportunity is a fundamental right to human 
dignity. We fight against poverty because faith re-
quires it and conscience demands it. We fight
against poverty with a growing conviction that major 
progress is within our reach.’’. 
(5) The 2002 National Security Strategy of the 
United States notes: ‘‘[A] world where some live in 
comfort and plenty, while half of the human race 
lives on less than $2 per day, is neither just nor sta-
ble. Including all of the world’s poor in an expanding 
circle of development and opportunity is a moral im-
perative and one of the top priorities of U.S. inter-
national policy.’’. 
(6) The bipartisan Final Report of the National 
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United 
States recommends: ‘‘A comprehensive U.S. strategy 
to counter terrorism should include economic policies 
that encourage development, more open societies, 
and opportunities for people to improve the lives of 
their families and enhance prospects for their chil-
dren.’’. 
(7) At the summit of the Group of Eight (G– 
8) nations in July 2005, leaders from all eight coun-
tries committed to increase aid to Africa from the 
current $25 billion annually to $50 billion by 2010, 
and to cancel 100 percent of the debt obligations 
owed to the World Bank, African Development
Bank, and International Monetary Fund by 18 of 
the world’s poorest nations. 
(8) The United States has recognized the need 
for increased financial and technical assistance to 
countries burdened by extreme poverty, as well as 
the need for strengthened economic and trade oppor-
tunities for those countries, through significant ini-
tiatives in recent years, including the United States 
Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and 
Malaria Act of 2003, the Millennium Challenge Act 
of 2003, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initia-
tive, and trade preference programs for developing 
countries, such as the African Growth and Oppor-
tunity Act. 
SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY. 
It is a major priority of United States foreign policy 
to vastly reduce global poverty and to eliminate extreme 
poverty in developing countries. 
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO DEVELOP COMPREHENSIVE 
STRATEGY. 
(a) STRATEGY.—The President, acting through the 
Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development, and in consultation with the heads 
of other appropriate departments and agencies of the Gov-
ernment of the United States, international organizations,
international financial institutions, recipient governments, 
United States and international nongovernmental organi-
zations, civil society organizations, and other appropriate 
entities, shall develop and implement a comprehensive 
strategy to further the United States foreign policy objec-
tive of vastly reducing global poverty and eliminating ex-
treme global poverty. 
(b) CONTENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 
(a) shall include, but not be limited to, the following: 
(1) Specific and measurable goals, benchmarks, 
and timetables to achieve the global poverty reduc-
tion objectives described in subsection (a). 
(2) An explanation of how these goals, bench-
marks, and timetables will enable the United States 
to fulfill its commitment to help achieve the inter-
nationally recognized goal of reducing by one-half 
the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 
and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day. 
(c) GUIDELINES.—The strategy required by sub-
section (a) should adhere to the following guidelines: 
(1) Continued investment in existing United 
States initiatives related to international poverty re-
duction, such as the United States Leadership 
Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act 
of 2003, the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003, the