Senator Barack Obama, in a preview of priorities he might pursue if elected president, is rejoicing over the Senate committee passage of a plan that could end up costing taxpayers billions of dollars in an attempt to reduce poverty in other nations.

S.2433, the Global Poverty Act, is the type of legislation that “We can, and must, make … a priority,” said Obama, a co-sponsor.

Cliff Kincaid at Accuracy in Media writes that while the Global Poverty Act sounds nice, the adoption could “result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States” and would make levels “of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations.”

Phyllis Schlafly, shrill as ever, nevertheless hits some very valid points:

Why are Republicans in Congress trying to help Barack Obama?

Republicans allowed a bill that carries his name, among nine others, to pass the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by voice vote last week — without any hearings. That means there was no roll-call vote so no member can be held accountable. The same bill passed the House by voice vote last year… The bill’s other co-sponsors include Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Chris Dodd, D-Conn., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Russ Feingold, D-Wis., Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., Charles Hagel, R-Neb., and Robert Mendez, D-N.J.

The scariest phrase in the bill is “Millennium Development Goal.” That refers to the declaration adopted by the United Nations Millennium Assembly and Summit in 2000 (blessed by President Bill Clinton) which called for the “eradication of poverty” by “redistribution (of) wealth and land,” cancellation of “the debts of developing countries,” and “a fair distribution of the earth’s resources”

Read her comments in full…

Why are Republicans so eager to jump on “secret Muslim” rumors and similar ephemera — and give Obama (and his Democrat and Republican co-conspirators) a free pass on this kind of genuinely scary legislation?