Press Release
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist Presents Corker with Award at Ceremony in Washington
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is the recipient of Save the Children’s “Congressional Champion for Real and Lasting Change Award” for 2010. The award, given annually to select members of Congress, recognizes Corker for his “outstanding leadership, extraordinary commitment and vigorous support for helping children in need around the world.”
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., R-Tenn., a Save the Children board member and chairman of its Survive to Five campaign, made the presentation at a reception in Washington on May 5. Other lawmakers honored at the reception included Senator Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo.
“Bill Frist and Save the Children have done so much to improve the quality of life for children here in the U.S. and abroad, and it’s an honor to stand with them in championing our shared goal of reducing rates of infant and childhood mortality throughout the world,” Corker said.
“Senator Corker has been an outstanding advocate for children,” said Frist. “His work on legislation such as the Global Child Survival Act, which works to reduce mortality rates for children in developing countries, is just one example of why Save the Children recognized him with the Congressional Champion Award.”
Corker is the lead Republican sponsor of the Global Child Survival Act, S.1966, which would require the Obama administration to develop and implement a strategy to improve the health of, and reduce the mortality rates among, newborns and children in developing countries, emphasizing the need to utilize cheap and effective treatments and in finding and capitalizing on efficiencies that can be gained in current programs. It also supports programs to combat female genital mutilation and promote safe and effective obstetric care.
“Maintaining U.S. investment in proven, cost-effective programs to combat poverty and disease overseas helps bring stability to unstable and often dangerous regions of the world, ultimately supporting our security interests both at home and abroad,” said Corker. “U.S. led efforts contributed to a 60 percent reduction in global child mortality between 1960 and 1990, but funding has not kept pace with the need for these successful health initiatives. We have an opportunity through the Global Child Survival Act to save the lives of more children and improve the health of mothers in developing nations.”
Save the Children is an independent organization whose mission is “to create lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need in the U.S. and around the world.”