[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 649 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 649

   Urging the President to continue efforts to support programs and 
 activities that provide food to the needy and school-age children in 
                         developing countries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 24, 2000

  Mr. Hall of Ohio (for himself, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. McGovern, and Ms. 
 Kaptur) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Urging the President to continue efforts to support programs and 
 activities that provide food to the needy and school-age children in 
                         developing countries.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Global School Meals and Women 
and Children Nutrition Resolution of 2000''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) There are an estimated 790,000,000 chronically hungry 
        people in the world, of which 300,000,000 are children.
            (2) Each of the approximately 2,000,000,000 children in the 
        world should have the right to survival, health, education, and 
        protection from exploitation and abuse of all kinds.
            (3) All of society is responsible to ensure that the right 
        to education be realized for all children and all adolescents.
            (4) According to the United Nations Children's Fund 
        (UNICEF), in sub-Saharan Africa as well as all over the world, 
        HIV/AIDS preys on the young, poor, and powerless, and on girls 
        and women in particular. While educated individuals have access 
        to the knowledge needed to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS, 
        the life-saving information is not finding its way to those 
        with little or no education.
            (5) It is in the early years of childhood when a child is 
        most likely to be scarred and handicapped for life by 
        malnutrition.
            (6) Numerous studies show the importance of nutritious 
        school meals and the correlation between improved dietary 
        status and enhanced school performance.
            (7) Studies show that a higher percentage of children 
        attend school and remain through graduation when meals are 
        provided.
            (8) There is a vital need for the international community 
        to create mechanisms to ensure the protection and realization 
        of children, so that children everywhere may benefit from 
        renewed efforts to ensure the fullest achievement of their 
        rights to education, nutrition, and a basic standard of living 
        for their protection when they are threatened by violence, 
        abuse and exploitation.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    The House of Representatives--
            (1) commends Ambassador George McGovern and former Senator 
        Robert Dole for their bipartisan endorsement and leadership in 
        promoting a worldwide school meals program and for their 
        remarks at the May 2000 National Nutrition Summit at which they 
        jointly called on the United States Government to lead the 
        world in providing meals in school settings for the more than 
        300,000,000 hungry children in developing countries; and
            (2) urges the President--
                    (A)(i) to continue efforts to support programs and 
                activities that provide food to the needy and school-
                age children in developing countries, including efforts 
                under the Global Food and Education Initiative 
                announced by the President in July 2000 at the G-8 
                summit meeting in Okinawa, Japan; and
                    (ii) to ensure that the appropriate offices within 
                the Department of Agriculture and the United States 
                Agency for International Development have an adequate 
                number of personnel in order to carry out, monitor, and 
                evaluate the Global Food and Education Initiative; and
                    (B) to continue to lead in organizing a worldwide 
                school meals program, as called for by Ambassador 
                George McGovern and former Senator Robert Dole, and a 
                supplementary feeding program for pregnant and nursing 
                women and their children under the age of 5 similar to 
                the special supplemental nutrition program for women, 
                infants, and children under section 17 of the Child 
                Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786), including 
                transmitting to the Congress a request for appropriate 
                legislation to authorize such programs and to provide 
                sufficient funds for such programs for fiscal year 2002 
                and subsequent fiscal years.
                                 <all>