Bono Takes On World Debt

By Serena Kappes

07/23/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

U2 singer Bono, who has never been shy about voicing his political views, took Congress head on in a Washington, D.C., press conference yesterday to urge the United States to take part in erasing the debt of Third World nations, reports Reuters. Along with U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Sen. Orrin Hatch, Bono (who's spearheaded Jubilee 2000, a campaign lobbying for the decrease of Third World debt) asked Congress to heed President Clinton's request for authorizing payment of $435 million toward that cause. "It's hard to get people in this town to agree on anything and yet people have really come together on this," he said. "But until I see the $435 million, I'm going to be a bit skeptical." U2 will release its new album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind," on October 31. They've also been part of the Olympics: NBC has been playing the album's first single "Beautiful Day" during video collages. In fact, the network has agreed to make a donation on U2's behalf to the Special Olympics in exchange for access to the song for its Olympics coverage. Now that's rocking for a good cause.