ONE members, interns and staff delivered our Upgrade Aid petition earlier this month with over 45,000 signatures from ONE members across the country.

Take a look at what Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN) had to say about the bill’s passage:

The bill we passed today…is the product of well over a year of research and analysis by Senators and their staffs. It has attracted the support of most development groups, led by the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. It is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 19 Senators, twelve of whom are members of this Committee. This level of backing for a bill related to foreign assistance structure is extremely rare. It provides an opportunity to build something approaching a consensus on this issue.

And here are some remarks by Senator John Kerry (D-MA), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman:

This legislation demonstrates Congress’s commitment to strengthening the capacity, accountability and effectiveness of our foreign aid programs. With the U.S. facing critical foreign policy and development priorities worldwide, it is vital that we update our foreign aid programs to reflect the new challenges of the 21st century.

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, added:

I’ve been able to see our foreign assistance dollars in action and am proud of the role we are playing in producing positive change in the lives of millions around the world, but at the same time, I share the frustration of many Americans that our foreign assistance efforts have often lacked transparency, coordination, monitoring and evaluation. This bill begins to reinvigorate USAID to improve the coordination, execution and efficiency of U.S. assistance so we can make each dollar go farther.

And Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, said:

This is one of the most significant pieces of foreign assistance legislation that has passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in decades. I am proud that this is truly a bi-partisan bill, developed in a collaborative manner and that it includes input from a wide range of voices. These programs are critical to millions of people around the world, they contribute to our mutual economic health, and are in the direct national security interests of the United States.

ONE Webster President Kritter Keirnan, Secretary Ellie Curran and I met with Senator Bond’s Foreign Policy Legislative Assistant, Michael DuBois, and Community Liaison Peggy Barnhart. We began by thanking the senator for co-sponsoring the Water for the World Act (S. 624), legislation that will provide 100 million more people with clean drinking water by 2015. When we presented the petitions, Mike DuBois informed us that he had already been reading the S. 1524 legislation and was optimistic that the senator would sign on very soon. He explained that the bill is congruent with the senator’s beliefs regarding smart power and was a complement to the America’s Global Development Capacity Act (S. 355) that he co-sponsored earlier this year.

Senator Bond has been a champion for the extreme poor in the Senate as of late and he recently co-authored a book that discusses smart power and the importance of US foreign aid to developing countries in southeast Asia. We presented his staffers with an invitation from Webster University President Elizabeth Stoble to speak about these ideas on our campus. They were very open to the idea and promised to pass the invitation along to the senator.

ONE Webster is very excited about the outcome of today’s meeting and we hope we will soon be planning an event for Senator Bond to speak at!

-Nick Stevens, Founder and Online Communications Director for ONE Webster

We were well-received in every office we visited, reflecting the bipartisan nature of the bill we support: S.1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act. This bill will give USAID, the agency handling most of our U.S. foreign aid, the tools and people it needs to better fight hunger and poverty around the world.

After repeated delays due to lack of sufficient grassroots support, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is now on-track and scheduled to discuss and mark up S.1524 next Tuesday, November 10. The fact that the Senate is making time for this bill now, despite Capitol Hill’s preoccupation with healthcare and other domestic concerns, is a big win for our movement and proof that when we come together, we can influence our legislators and really make a difference.

Your phone calls and signatures on this petition told our senators loudly and clearly that Americans care about the quality of our foreign aid. That was a message they really needed to hear. We may still have a fight to see this bill and other critical components of aid reform enacted. But better, smarter, stronger U.S. foreign aid is on the horizon — thanks in part to the ripple effects yesterday’s petition delivery is bound to have on the Senate and beyond.

Keep watching the ONE Blog for an update after the mark up on Tuesday.

The committee meeting on S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act, is scheduled for Tuesday, November 10. In order to have the biggest impact on that discussion, ONE will deliver our Upgrade Aid petition — asking senators to cosponsor this important legislation — this Thursday, November 5. That will allow just enough time for senators to receive and review our petition before the committee meets to decide its fate next week.

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, a team of interns, volunteers and ONE staff will begin printing copies of our petition (with more than 45,000 signatures!) and assembling folders for hand-delivery to each Senate office. That means today is the last day to sign the petition to have your name included in our delivery on Thursday.

Sign the petition here, and don’t forget to share it with your friends and social networks.

We’re happy to announce the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act (S.1524) now has 15 cosponsors in the Senate. ONE is building support for this important legislation with our Upgrade Aid petition– now over 40,000 strong!

Full list of cosponsors below. Please sing the Upgrade Aid petition here, and help give USAID the tools and people it needs to better fight hunger and poverty around the world.

1. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
2. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
3. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
4. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
5. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
6. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID)
7. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
8. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA)
9. Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-DE)
10. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
11. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
12. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD)
13. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
14. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
15. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC)

We’ve learned that on October 20, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to review S. 1524. It’s more important than ever that the Senate hears from ONE members demanding that we give USAID the tools and people it needs to better fight hunger and poverty around the world.

As you know the laws governing our foreign assistance programs are nearly 50 years old. Foreign aid is in desperate need of a major upgrade. Please sign this petition asking the Senate to provide, improve and measure critical development programs, and be sure to share it with your friends.

PS–You can sign the petition AND support your favorite college or university in the ONE Campus Challenge by signing here.

Over 24,000 ONE members signed the Upgrade Aid petition within its first 24 hours — far surpassing our expectations and proving Americans do care about better, smarter foreign aid. Now we need your help to reach 50,000 signatures before we deliver the petition on the day of the mark-up, when we expect it will have the biggest impact.

Please sign the Upgrade Aid petition here, and help us double our impact by sharing it with your friends, here.

Since ONE members began making phone calls on September 17, we’ve registered an amazing 1,110 calls asking the Senate to Upgrade Aid. Three senators have signed on as cosponsors for S. 1524 this week, including Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who received 33 calls from ONE members, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who received 36 calls, and Edward Kaufman (D-DE), who received 2 calls. Special thanks to ONE members in Missouri, New York and Delaware for their efforts, and to everyone else who made calls. Here is the complete list of current cosponsors:

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)
Sen. James Risch (R-ID)
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen. Edward Kaufman (D-DE)

You can still make phone calls on behalf of this bill, here. And don’t forget to sign the petition.

Check out this video to see how they did it:

The Upgrade Aid campaign is about better, smarter U.S. foreign assistance — so the precious development dollars we fight so hard for all year go to the best, most efficient programs on the ground. Webster University’s 70+ calls supporting the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act seem to have made an impact with Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who officially signed on as a cosponsor for the bill on Tuesday.

You can still make phone calls on behalf of S. 1524 here. And now we also have an Upgrade Aid petition you can sign, here.

Last year, Webster University’s ONE Campus Challenge participation ranked them in the top 10 global poverty-fighting schools in the nation. This year, they’re already setting the bar high, and we’re excited to see what the new season brings from each of the more than 2,400 Campus Challenge schools.

Visit the ONE Campus Challenge website to learn more about the competition and how you can get involved.

-Emily Stivers

But with the committee deliberation on this bill pushed back a second time, until October 6, we’re stepping up our game. In addition to phone calls, we’re now asking ONE members to sign a petition on this critical legislation. We’ll deliver that petition to your senators next week, before the October 6 committee mark-up.

Tell your senators to cosponsor S. 1524..

S. 1524 gives the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) the tools and people to keep fighting hunger and poverty around the world, and do it even better. And it gives us new mechanisms to know what works and doesn’t, so we can make sure our investments are making a difference.

That means better, smarter USAID programs to help the most difficult-to-reach farmers grow crops and feed more of Africa’s 265 million hungry people. It means more support for treating 6.6 billion liters of water in Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. And it also means better immunization, polio eradication, nutrition, diarrhea and pneumonia care, and maternal and neonatal healthcare through USAID programs across the African continent.

The bipartisan the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act is a key first step towards better, smarter U.S. foreign aid. Tell your senators that upgrading aid is a priority for you, and don’t forget to share the petition with your friends.

-Emily Stivers