The ONE Campaign collaborated with Interaction, the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, and several other partner organizations to secure a $3.1 billion increase in the 2009 international affairs budget.

Concerned members mobilised to send more than 75,000 petitions in just two weeks to place pressure on Congress to pass the legislation. More than 3,500 supporters called their Senators over the course of two days to urge passage of the Biden-Lugar Amendment.

In early February, the Senate Budget Committee proposed a $4.1 billion cut in the international affairs budget, which if passed would have lost billions in critical poverty-fighting programs.

In a statement released before the vote, ONE President and CEO David Lane discussed the importance of the amendment:

“America has a moral tradition of helping those people living in the world’s worst conditions. Imagine worrying whether the mosquito that bit your son is carrying malaria, or whether the glass of water your daughter drank is filled with parasites that may kill her. It seems beyond possibility in this 21st century, but those are the lives that America is trying to save. Those are the lives placed in jeopardy by this budget cut”

The passage of the bill came early in the morning of the 15th of March, with a 73-23 vote in favor.