IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 172 
Affirming the commitment and leadership of the United States to improve 
the lives of the world’s 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty 
and conditions of misery. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 26, 2005 
Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota (for herself, Mr. LEACH, Mr. SHAYS, Ms. CAR-
SON, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. OLVER, Ms. WATSON, Mr. 
SERRANO, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. KIND, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. JACK-
SON of Illinois, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. LEE, Mr. 
SABO, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CASE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. FARR, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. 
BLUMENAUER, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. HONDA, Mrs. MALONEY, 
Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. PAYNE) 
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on International Relations 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Affirming the commitment and leadership of the United 
States to improve the lives of the world’s 1.3 billion 
people living in extreme poverty and conditions of misery. 
Whereas on March 14, 2002, President George W. Bush stat-
ed: ‘‘[The] growing divide between wealth and poverty, 
between opportunity and misery, is both a challenge to 
our compassion and a source of instability. We must con-
front it. We must include every African, every Asian,
•HCON 172 IH 
every Latin American, every Muslim, in an expanding cir-
cle of development.’’; 
Whereas President Bush further stated at the Monterrey 
Summit on March 22, 2002: ‘‘We fight against poverty 
because hope is an answer to terror. We fight against 
poverty because 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.’’; 
Whereas the September 2002 National Security Strategy of 
the United States provides: ‘‘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 stable. Including 
all of the world’s poor in an expanding circle of develop-
ment—and opportunity—is a moral imperative and one 
of the top priorities of United States international pol-
icy.’’; 
Whereas on behalf of the American people, President Bush 
on March 14, 2002 stated: ‘‘I have an ambitious goal for 
the developed world, that we ought to double the size of 
the world’s poorest economies within a decade.’’; 
Whereas the bipartisan Final Report of the National Com-
mission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States rec-
ommends: ‘‘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 children.’’; 
Whereas the United States seeks to advance sustainable de-
velopment and economic growth, eliminate extreme pov-
•HCON 172 IH 
erty and contribute to upholding the principals of human 
dignity, equality, and equity therefore enhancing the well 
being and security of the American people by creating a 
world that is safer, more secure, politically free, as well 
as free from conditions of human misery; 
Whereas despite the extraordinary economic prosperity of the 
world’s wealthiest nations, 1.3 billion human beings are 
living in extreme poverty on $1 per day or less in condi-
tions of economic and physical misery; 
Whereas more than 800 million children, women and men 
around the world are suffering daily from hunger and 
lack of nourishment; 
Whereas 10 million children are dying each year of prevent-
able causes, including 4 million newborn babies in their 
first month of life; 
Whereas one woman is dying every minute, nearly 1,500 per 
day, during pregnancy and childbirth as a result of lack 
of access to basic health care; 
Whereas in 2004 the global AIDS epidemic killed 3.1 million 
lives, nearly 5 million new people became HIV infected, 
nearly 40 million people on the planet are living with 
HIV or AIDS and some 15 million children in Africa 
alone have become orphans as a result of the HIV virus; 
Whereas in the developing world over 100 million children of 
primary school age are unable to attend school, including 
60 million girls; 
Whereas worldwide women and girls are suffering from phys-
ical and sexual violence in epidemic proportions, women 
own less than 1 percent of land worldwide, as well as 
confront cultural and economic barriers to achieving
•HCON 172 IH 
equality with men and boys in accessing basic edu-
cational, health, and economic opportunities; 
Whereas the destruction and degradation of natural resources 
in developing nations reduces food production, under-
mines local economies, and contributes to hunger, poor 
health, and poverty; 
Whereas the United States signed and committed to achieve 
the Millennium Declaration along with 188 countries at 
the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 
2000; 
Whereas the Millennium Declaration set forth the Millennium 
Development Goals which seek to improve life for the 
world’s poorest people by 2015 through a global commit-
ment to halve extreme poverty and hunger, achieve uni-
versal primary education, promote gender equity and 
women’s empowerment, improve maternal and child 
health, combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases, ensure en-
vironmental sustainability, and develop a global partner-
ship to achieve these goals; and 
Whereas on March 14, 2002, President George W. Bush stat-
ed: ‘‘America supports the international development 
goals in the United Nations Millennium Declaration and 
believes that the goals are a shared responsibility of de-
veloped and developing countries.’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) reaffirms President George W. Bush’s sup-
port for the United Nations Millennium Declaration 
and supports a sustained United States commitment 
to work with the world’s wealthy, middle income,
•HCON 172 IH 
and developing nations, especially G–8 countries, to 
advance the policy reforms, leadership, and resources 
necessary for the attainment of the goals by 2015 to 
reduce extreme poverty and promote human dignity 
as set forth in the Millennium Declaration and the 
Millennium Development Goals; 
(2) urges the President, the Secretary of State, 
and other executive branch officials to use every op-
portunity, including at the forthcoming G–8 Summit 
in Gleneagles, Scotland and the United Nations 
Summit on the Millennium Declaration in New 
York, to provide continued United States leadership 
and put forth the necessary United States share of 
resources to help achieve the Millennium Develop-
ment Goals; and 
(3) expresses profound gratitude for the com-
passion and generosity of the American people and 
their steadfast desire to promote global security and 
prosperity while striving to eliminate extreme pov-
erty and human suffering. 
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