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PRESS RELEASE: Citizens For Global Solutions' 2007 Report Card
Who Are the Global Leaders in Congress?
The Answers are in Citizens for Global Solutions? 2007 Report Card
Washington, DC ? Citizens for Global Solutions 2007 Congressional Report Card, is the most comprehensive tool for evaluating which legislators are true advocates of cooperative solutions to global problems. Not only has Citizens for Global Solutions analyzed legislators' voting records on global issues, in a unique twist, it has awarded extra credit for sponsorship of legislation, floor speeches, public statements and op-eds by Members of Congress in support of cooperative global solutions.
The Report Card ranked Members of Congress on their positions on such issues as:
Climate Change
Energy
Genocide in
Darfur
Global Health and Development
International Criminal Court
Nuclear proliferation
Torture
U.N. Peacekeeping Funding
?More than ever, Americans want to know where their representatives in Congress stand on issues relating to our nation?s role in the world,? said Charles J. Brown, President and CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions. ?Our Report Card provides our members and citizens with an invaluable tool for measuring whether their Representatives and Senators share their support for an engaged
U.S. foreign policy.?
As
Don Kraus , Executive Vice President of the organization, noted, ?That by providing extra credit, we wanted to recognize that legislators make essential contributions to global issues that are often not reflected in roll call votes. Our Report Card can help Americans determine whether their Members of Congress promoted effective global solutions or fought against constructive
U.S. global engagement.?
A total of 43 Members of Congress were recognized by Citizens for Global Solutions, and thus received extra credit for outstanding work on behalf of global issues, such as:
Senator Gordon Smith, (R-OR), was recognized for his dedication to international human rights and combating the spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide. He sponsored legislation (S. 3801) to support the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement. In addition, he sent numerous letters to his colleagues in Congress and to the administration urging full funding for both bilateral and multilateral global HIV/AIDS initiatives. Finally, he advocated for full funding of the International Affairs Account and serves as Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Global AIDS Emergency Task Force.
Senator Barbara Boxer, (D-CA), was honored for her leadership on climate change and for sponsoring global health legislation. Also, as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee she strongly opposed the nomination of John Bolton to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. She also successfully advocated for increased assistance for HIV/AIDS and co-authored with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) The Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children Act. Finally, she co-authored a letter to President Bush asking him to work with the new Congress to pass meaningful climate change legislation that would reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions and forge an effective and equitable global agreement on climate change.
Senator Chuck Hagel, (R-NE), earned extra credit for public statements in support of multilateralism in
U.S. foreign policy and for promoting international human rights. He serves as Chair of the Congressional Executive China Commission, which was created to monitor the development of human rights and the rule of law in
China , and submitted a report to the president containing legislative recommendations on the matter. In several speeches, Senator Hagel stressed the importance of pursuing creative diplomacy in U.S. foreign policy and endorsed a greater U.N. role in
Iraq . He also played a constructive role in preventing the
Bolton confirmation. Finally, he signed onto numerous letters supporting increased funding for International Affairs.
Senator Carl Levin, (D-MI), was recognized for promoting human rights, both at home and abroad, and for advocating a more multilateral approach to
U.S. foreign policy. He signed numerous letters urging the U.S. action in response to human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Indonesia and
Darfur . He has also been an outspoken critic of U.S. human rights abuses, introducing legislation to establish an independent commission to study
U.S. practices of interrogation and torture. In addition, Senator Levin authored an op-ed with Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) urging the administration to engage in diplomacy with
North Korea and work within the U.N. to solve the nuclear weapons dilemma.
Representative Christopher Shays, (R-CT), was recognized for advocating for continued
U.S. global engagement. As co-chair of the Nonproliferation Task Force, Rep. Shays held an oversight hearing to examine the importance of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and appropriate steps to strengthen the nonproliferation regime. He co-authored a letter to President Bush asking for an increased international affairs budget and emphasized the critical role of development and diplomacy in contributing to global stability. He also co-authored a letter to the Republican Leadership in the House urging that the final version of the Military Commissions Act (S. 3930) fully maintain the
U.S. commitment to the Geneva Conventions.
Representative Nita Lowey, (D-NY), was honored for her service as ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee for Foreign Operations. In this position, she worked to increase the U.S. International Affairs budget and has advocated for increased funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Rep. Lowey also worked to increase funding for several key U.N. agencies, including UNICEF, UNDP and the UNIFEM Trust Fund. Rep. Lowey is also deeply committed to human rights and global health issues. In the 109th Congress, she sponsored H.R. 1413, a bill directing the State Department to collaborate with international institutions to initiate a special program to strategize and plan for the provision of aid in the event of international humanitarian crises, devoting particular attention to women and children.
Representative Jeff Fortenberry, (R-NE), earned extra credit for his commitment to global health issues and for his efforts to uphold
U.S. commitments to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). As a member of the House International Relations Subcommittee on
Africa and Global Health, Rep. Fortenberry chaired a hearing on medical outreach as an instrument of U.S. Diplomacy, seeking to determine how we can leverage telemedicine and other leading edge capabilities to help underserved populations in remote areas. Fortenberry also successfully passed an amendment (H.Amdt. 1196) to the U.S. --
India nuclear agreement, requiring annual reports on military fissile production to gauge whether the agreement may result in a breach of Non-Proliferation Treaty commitments.
Representative Emanuel Cleaver, (D-MO), was recognized for his dedication to international human rights issues and the global environment. He registered his staunch opposition to the Military Commissions Act, legislation that stripped habeas corpus rights from detainees classified as enemy combatants, saying, ?I am disheartened by the lack of importance this administration places on human rights.? He strongly supported a number of
Darfur bills, including resolutions calling for a NATO Bridging Force (H.Res. 723) and calling on Arab states to step up their efforts to end the genocide (H.Con.Res. 504). Finally, Rep. Cleaver introduced the Congress Leads by Example through Alternative Fuel Resources or CLEAR Act, which would require Members of Congress to only lease alternative fuel vehicles in their official capacities.
Further information on the Citizens for Global Solutions Report Card, including detailed vote descriptions, roll call breakdowns, method of calculation, as well as who received extra credit and why, is available at www.globalsolutions.org/reportcard
Notes to Editors: Citizens for Global Solutions is a non-partisan membership organization that envisions a future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity that no one nation can solve alone.
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