ONE Power Summit 2011: Tennessee storms the Hill, meets Sens. Corker + Alexander

Apr 29th, 2011 12:20 PM UTC
By Field

Nearly 150 ONE super-members were in Washington, D.C. for ONE’s 2011 Power Summit, a four-day advocacy extravaganza. Abby Sasser from Tennessee writes about her experience meeting Sens. Corker and Alexander.

Senator Corker and Senator Alexander with ONE members

Fresh off of our victory in stopping cuts to critical programs in the 2011 budget, Tennessee ONE members headed to Washington, D.C., for the ONE Power Summit. During the summit, we visited Capitol Hill to discuss funding for global vaccines and agriculture for next year’s budget. We met both Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander and visited Rep. Jim Cooper’s office to remind them that more than 22,000 ONE members in the state would like Congress to save the 1 percent of the federal budget that supports life saving programs for the most vulnerable people around the world.

We were particularly excited to share information about two programs we care about — agriculture and vaccines. Investing in agriculture is twice as effective at reducing poverty as growth in other sectors, because it helps farmers increase crop yields and connect to markets more easily, generating sustainable economic growth.

Another area where we can make an immediate impact is with vaccines. Two new vaccines have been developed to fight pneumonia and rotavirus, diseases which kill more children than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. With these new vaccines and proper funding, we can save 4 million more children over the next 5 years.

It’s a tough economic climate out there, but by investing a small amount of money in programs that are proven to be effective, we can make a big difference in the lives of some of the world’s poorest people.

We’ll keep up the engagement with our at home in Tennessee to ensure these programs are fully funded in the FY12 budget.

TAGS: From ONE Members, Tennessee