November 6, 2000
Standard readers make a difference
on global debt relief legislation
___By Kenny Byrd
___Associated Baptist Press
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--People in the pews can make a difference, say supporters of an international religious movement for debt relief that won a major victory in Congress Oct. 25.
___Most people doubt that letters, phone calls and visits from a handful of constituents can tip the scales in a bid to get congressional support for legislation. But that is just what happened, observers say, when Congress passed a foreign-operations spending bill that includes $435 million toward debt relief for the world's poorest nations.
___The win surprised even supporters of the bill, who were convinced lawmakers would approve only a portion of their request. Congress, however, provided all the funds necessary this year to fund the United States' share of an agreement among the leading industrialized nations to forgive debts facing poor countries.
___The spending bill cleared the House on a 307-101 vote. The Senate followed with a 65-27 vote. The bill now heads to President Clinton, who is expected to sign it into law.
___"We are heartened by the show of bipartisan support in the Congress," said Dan Driscoll-Shaw, national coordinator for Jubilee 2000/USA. "Now that Congress has acted, it is up to the countries to make sure that the money freed as a result of debt cancellation is spent in a transparent way for the betterment of people."
___The Jubilee 2000 campaign is religiously based and inspired by the Old Testament concept of "jubilee," the idea that every 50 years debts should be forgiven and slaves set free.
___Two years ago, members of Congress barely knew about the movement. Prompted by reports of children in poor countries dying because their governments were spending more in interest payments than on health and education, an international religious and human-rights movement mobilized.
___Bread for the World, one of dozens of supporting organizations, said the real story behind the movement's success "is the important role churches and individuals have played in bringing the debt-relief issue into the national arena.
___"Not since Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement has the grassroots action of churches and people of goodwill so influenced our nation's leaders."
___The measure passed with broad bipartisan support. And that bipartisanship stemmed from the broad group of religious figures backing the initiative, including Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Jesse Jackson, Tony Campolo and others.
___The Southern Baptist Convention is one of the few national religious denominations that had little or no involvement in the debt-relief effort. The president of Nigeria, a Baptist, sent a letter to SBC officials requesting their support.
___Other Baptist individuals and groups, such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A and the Baptist General Convention of Texas, however, actively touted the measure.
___The White House recently called a bipartisan meeting to work on an agreement attended by Pat Robertson and other supporters. But standing in the way of the debt-relief package until recently was Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas.
___Congressional observers said Texas constituents got Gramm to support the initiative after Pat Robertson told "700 Club" viewers to call Gramm and after Marv Knox, editor of the Baptist Standard, wrote an editorial asking Texas Baptists to do the same.
___"The fate of many of the world's poorest people awaits the action of two Texans," Knox wrote, pointing to Gramm and Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas. Knox pointed out that under the debt-relief package "the poor countries must develop poverty-reduction strategies, economic reforms and procedures to ensure that the funds saved by this debt reduction will be channeled directly to reducing poverty."
___Another unlikely story told by Jubilee 2000 supporters is how rock singer Bono of U2 prompted the support of the conservative Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.
___Helms told The Hill newspaper that he was deeply impressed by his meeting with Bono on the issue. Helms told the Irish rock star: "If I can find some way that the Lord would show me how to really help these people, I'd quit the Senate and try to do it. I told Bono that. He is working hard, and I'm going to try to help him the best I can."
___Helms added that Bono--a longtime advocate of debt relief--"is a deeply religious man. ... He is here to sincerely get something going to feed the starving children in Africa."
___The U.S. commitment to debt relief will again be tested next year as the G-8 agreement calls for another few hundred million dollars in relief from the United States. But this year's $435 million was the largest installment in the three-year package.
___Bread for the World President David Beckmann said the debt-relief measure "is a great victory for hungry people in the poorest countries around the world and is a direct result of the concerned citizens in this country who raised voices on their behalf."
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