H.R. 3605
Global Poverty Act of 2005

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Introduced on July 28th, 2005 by Representative Adam Smith (D-WA) and Representative Spencer Bachus (R-AL)

•  Asserts that more than one billion people worldwide live in extreme poverty on less than $1 per day, and another 1.6 billion people subsist in poverty on less than $2 per day.

•  Makes it a priority of United States foreign policy to greatly reduce global poverty and to eliminate extreme poverty in developing countries.

•  Calls on the president to develop a plan for reducing global poverty with detailed and measurable goals, and to set a timetable for those goals to be accomplished.

•  Sets non-binding guidelines for the strategy such as increased investment in the Millennium Challenge Account, the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, and the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.

•  Increased and more effective development assistance and improved and expanded debt relief are also suggested.

•  Calls on the administration to better coordinate these efforts with developing countries, developed countries, international organizations and international financial organizations.

•  Requires the president to report to Congress annually on the status of the achievement of the goals.

Latest Status: Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.