[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 53 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 53

Encouraging the development of strategies to reduce hunger and poverty, 
 and to promote free market economies and democratic institutions, in 
                          sub-Saharan Africa.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 21, 2001

    Mr. Hagel (for himself, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Levin) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Encouraging the development of strategies to reduce hunger and poverty, 
 and to promote free market economies and democratic institutions, in 
                          sub-Saharan Africa.

    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This concurrent resolution may be cited as the ``Hunger to Harvest: 
Decade of Support for Sub-Saharan Africa Resolution''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Despite some progress in recent years, sub-Saharan 
        Africa enters the new millennium with many of the world's 
        poorest countries and is the one region of the world where 
        hunger is both pervasive and increasing.
            (2) Thirty-three of the world's 41 poorest debtor countries 
        are in sub-Saharan Africa and an estimated 291,000,000 people, 
        nearly one-half of sub-Saharan Africa's total population, 
        currently live in extreme poverty on less than $1 a day.
            (3) One in three people in sub-Saharan Africa is 
        chronically undernourished, double the number of three decades 
        ago. One child out of seven dies before the age of five, and 
        one-half of these deaths are due to malnutrition.
            (4) Sub-Saharan Africa is the region in the world most 
        affected by infectious disease, accounting for one-half of the 
        deaths worldwide from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, 
        and several other diseases.
            (5) Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 70 percent of adults, and 
        80 percent of children, living with the HIV virus, and 75 
        percent of the people worldwide who have died of AIDS lived in 
        Africa.
            (6) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has erased many of the 
        development gains of the past generation in sub-Saharan Africa 
        and now threatens to undermine economic and social progress for 
        the next generation, with life expectancy in parts of sub-
        Saharan Africa having already decreased by 10-20 years as a 
        result of AIDS.
            (7) Despite these immense challenges, the number of sub-
        Saharan African countries that are moving toward open economies 
        and more accountable governments has increased, and these 
        countries are beginning to achieve local solutions to their 
        common problems.
            (8) To make lasting improvements in the lives of their 
        people, sub-Saharan Africa governments need support as they act 
        to solve conflicts, make critical investments in human capacity 
        and infrastructure, combat corruption, reform their economies, 
        stimulate trade and equitable economic growth, and build 
        democracy.
            (9) Despite sub-Saharan Africa's enormous development 
        challenges, United States companies hold approximately 
        $12,800,000,000 in investments in sub-Saharan Africa, greater 
        than United States investments in either the Middle East or 
        Eastern Europe, and total United States trade with sub-Saharan 
        Africa currently exceeds that with all of the independent 
        states of the former Soviet Union, including the Russian 
        Federation. This economic relationship could be put at risk 
        unless additional public and private resources are provided to 
        combat poverty and promote equitable economic growth in sub-
        Saharan Africa.
            (10) Bread for the World Institute calculates that the goal 
        of reducing world hunger by one-half by 2015 is achievable 
        through an increase of $4,000,000,000 in annual funding from 
        all donors for poverty-focused development. If the United 
        States were to shoulder one-fourth of this aid burden--
        approximately $1,000,000,000 a year--the cost to each United 
        States citizen would be one penny per day.
            (11) Failure to effectively address sub-Saharan Africa's 
        development needs could result in greater conflict and 
        increased poverty, heightening the prospect of humanitarian 
        intervention and potentially threatening a wide range of United 
        States interests in sub-Saharan Africa.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the years 2002 through 2012 should be declared ``A 
        Decade of Support for Sub-Saharan Africa'';
            (2) not later than 90 days after the date of adoption of 
        this concurrent resolution, the President should submit a 
        report to Congress setting forth a five-year strategy, and a 
        ten-year strategy, to achieve a reversal of current levels of 
        hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, including a 
        commitment to contribute an appropriate United States share of 
        increased bilateral and multilateral poverty-focused resources 
        for sub-Saharan Africa, with an emphasis on--
                    (A) health, including efforts to prevent, treat, 
                and control HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other 
                diseases that contribute to malnutrition and hunger, 
                and to promote maternal health and child survival;
                    (B) education, with an emphasis on equal access to 
                learning for girls and women;
                    (C) agriculture, including strengthening 
                subsistence agriculture as well as the ability to 
                compete in global agricultural markets, and investment 
                in infrastructure and rural development;
                    (D) private sector and free market development, to 
                bring sub-Saharan Africa into the global ecomony, 
                enable people to purchase food, and make health and 
                education investments sustainable;
                    (E) democratic institutions and the rule of law, 
                including strengthening civil society and independent 
                judiciaries;
                    (F) micro-finance development; and
                    (G) debt relief that provides incentives for sub-
                Saharan African countries to invest in poverty-focused 
                development, and to expand democratic participation, 
                free markets, trade, and investment;
            (3) the President should work with the heads of other donor 
        countries and sub-Saharan African countries, and with United 
        States and sub-Saharan African private and voluntary 
        organizations and other civic organizations, including faith-
        based organizations, to implement the strategies described in 
        paragraph (2);
            (4) Congress should undertake a multi-year commitment to 
        provide the resources to implement those strategies; and
            (5) 120 days after the date of adoption of this concurrent 
        resolution, and every year thereafter, the Administrator of the 
        United States Agency for International Development, in 
        consultation with the heads of other appropriate Federal 
        departments and agencies, should submit to Congress a report on 
        the implementation of those strategies, including the action 
        taken under paragraph (3), describing--
                    (A) the results of the implementation of those 
                strategies as of the date of the report, including the 
                progress made and any setbacks suffered;
                    (B) impediments to, and opportunities for, future 
                progress;
                    (C) proposed changes to those strategies, if any; 
                and
                    (D) the role and extent of cooperation of the 
                governments of sub-Saharan countries and other donors, 
                both public and private, in combating poverty and 
                promoting equitable economic development.
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