U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee passes Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act

"In an exciting move for the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) community, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2011 (S 641), bringing the bill one step closer to becoming a law," PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog reports (Petoskey, 6/20). "The bill, introduced by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), has broad bipartisan support in the Senate," the ONE Blog notes, adding, "If enacted, the bill would provide better access to clean water and sanitation to the world's poorest communities through an efficient and cost effective strategy" (Brennan, 6/20). "The House [HR 3658] and Senate versions of the legislation have some differences, but ultimately, both seek to provide safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for millions of people, largely by improving upon the 2005 Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act and making the way that the United States provides foreign aid on water and WASH projects more efficient," advocate Elizabeth Shope writes in the Natural Resource Defense Council's "Switchboard" blog. She asks representatives to "call on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to move the bill" (6/20).