[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 149 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 149

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the international response to 
  the current need for food in the Horn of Africa remains inadequate.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 20, 2003

Mr. Feingold submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the international response to 
  the current need for food in the Horn of Africa remains inadequate.

Whereas, according to the United Nations World Food Program, there are nearly 
        40,000,000 people at risk of starvation in Africa this year due to 
        drought and widespread crop failure;
Whereas more than 14,000,000 of those people live in Ethiopia and Eritrea;
Whereas the World Food Program has raised only 25 percent of the $100,000,000 it 
        needs to assist 900,000 people in Eritrea;
Whereas increased food and transportation costs have reduced the purchasing 
        power of aid organizations;
Whereas the United States has contributed more than any other donor country in 
        responding to the food crisis;
Whereas food aid is only part of the solution to the complex problems associated 
        with famine, and non-food aid is also critical to lowering fatality 
        rates;
Whereas the number of people at risk of food shortages in the Horn of Africa 
        could exceed the levels of the famine of 1984;
Whereas urban areas in the region lack effective food security and vulnerability 
        monitoring and sufficient assessment capacity;
Whereas countries in Africa have the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the 
        world;
Whereas malnutrition lowers the ability of people to resist infection by the 
        HIV/AIDS virus and hastens the onset of AIDS;
Whereas a person infected with HIV/AIDS needs to consume a higher number of 
        calories per day than the average person does in order to survive; and
Whereas there is not enough food in the assistance pipeline to satisfy the dire 
        food needs of the people in drought-affected countries of the Horn of 
        Africa: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the President 
should--
            (1) review our food assistance programs to ensure that we 
        are as committed to, and successful at, meeting food needs in 
        Africa as we are to meeting food needs in other parts of the 
        world;
            (2) take all appropriate measures to shift available United 
        States food assistance resources to meet food needs in the Horn 
        of Africa, including drawdowns of the remainder of the reserve 
        stocks in the Emerson Humanitarian Trust;
            (3) encourage other donors to commit increased food 
        assistance resources through bilateral and multilateral means; 
        and
            (4) direct the Secretary of State, the Secretary of 
        Agriculture, and the Administrator of USAID to work with 
        international organizations, other donor countries, and 
        governments in Africa to develop a long-term, comprehensive 
        strategy for sustainable recovery in regions affected by food 
        crisis that--
                    (A) integrates agricultural development, clean 
                water access, inoculations, HIV/AIDS awareness and 
                action, natural disaster management, urban 
                vulnerability measures, and other appropriate 
                interventions in a coordinated approach;
                    (B) estimates costs and resource requirements; and
                    (C) establishes a plan for mobilizing resources, a 
                timetable for achieving results, and indicators for 
                measuring performance.
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