1.This Act may be cited as the
Roadmap to End Global Hunger and
Promote Food Security Act of 2009
or the
Roadmap Act of
2009
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)The international community has made
progress decreasing global hunger over the past four decades, reducing the
percentage of the world’s population that is hungry from 37 percent to 17
percent. The United States provided critical global leadership in achieving
this success and is the world’s largest donor of emergency food assistance to
vulnerable populations affected by war, conflict, and natural and
weather-related disasters.
(2)Although the percentage of individuals
experiencing hunger has fallen steadily over several decades, the total number
of such individuals has grown. The United Nations Food and Agricultural
Organization estimated in December 2008 that the number of individuals
suffering from hunger is 963,000,000, an increase of 115,000,000 over the last
2 years.
(3)Poverty in developing countries remains
largely a rural issue, with 75 percent of individuals in extreme poverty living
in rural areas. Strategies to address hunger, food security, and agricultural
development must respond to the needs and reality of small-scale producers,
especially women, who represent between 60 and 80 percent of agricultural
producers in the developing world, in remote and rural areas.
(4)According to the United Nations World Food
Program (WFP), more than 400,000,000 children suffer from chronic hunger, and
an estimated 75,000,000 of these children, two-thirds of whom are female, do
not attend school. The United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that 9,200,000
children under the age of 5 die every year, mostly from preventable and
treatable causes, and that child and maternal malnutrition contributes to
approximately 6,000,000 deaths of children under the age of 5 annually.
(5)Children who are malnourished in the first
two years of life suffer irreparable harm, have lower productivity and lower
wages as adults, and are more likely to have children who are
malnourished.
(6)Over the last 25 years, United States
assistance for agricultural development has declined by 85 percent and, with
few exceptions, much of the international community has also neglected
agricultural development in the world’s poorest areas. At the end of 2008, the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had only 16
agricultural specialists and 6 technical agricultural experts on staff,
representing a substantial lack of expertise and specialists at USAID
headquarters in Washington, DC, and at United States field missions across the
globe. Further, there has been a decline in United States and international
donor support for agricultural education, research and development, and
extension services at all levels in developing countries and among donor
nations.
(7)During the period from 2002 to 2008, the
world experienced rising food prices, including rapid acceleration occurring
from 2007 to 2008, with a devastating effect on the food security and welfare
of the 1,000,000,000 individuals worldwide who live on less than one dollar a
day and who spend 50 percent to 80 percent of their income on food. Sharply
increased prices for food and petroleum-based products, including fuel and
fertilizers, were particularly devastating for poor, small, and rural
agricultural producers.
(8)The Economic Research Service of the
Department of Agriculture reported in May 2009 that factors contributing to
rising food and fuel costs included decreased international stocks of staple
grains and cereals, increased commodity prices brought about by drought,
floods, and global climate change, increased food and fuel consumption by
middle-income countries, such as China and India, and increased pressure on
land use and production of basic cereals from greater cultivation of biofuels.
Regarding rice, which is critical to the diet of about half the world’s
population, factors behind the rise in global prices in 2008 were trade
restrictions by major suppliers, panic buying of large importers, a weak
dollar, and record oil prices.
(9)From January 2007 through June 2008, food
protests, including strikes, demonstrations, and riots over food, occurred in
more than 50 countries, with some countries experiencing multiple occurrences
and a high degree of violence, leading United States intelligence analysts and
the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to identify the political
consequences of severe hunger and food insecurity among the main threats to
national security, particularly in weak and fragile states.
(10)Reducing hunger and increasing food
security require sustained multilateral cooperation. At the 1996 World Food
Summit in Rome, Italy, the United States and more than 180 world leaders
pledged to halve the total number of undernourished people worldwide from the
1990 level—a commitment reaffirmed in September 2000 when they adopted the
United Nations Millennium Declaration and established eight Millennium
Development Goals, the first of which is cutting global hunger and extreme
poverty in half by 2015. On July 15, 2008, the United Nations High Level Task
Force on Global Food Security presented the Comprehensive Framework for Action
to address the global food crisis, providing governments and intergovernmental
and nongovernmental organizations with concrete immediate and longer term
responses to achieving food security, and which served as an impetus for dozens
of countries to increase aid commitments. Further, in his March 2009 report to
the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
the Right to Food recognized that for international assistance to be effective,
it is necessary to overcome structural impediments to the availability of and
access to the global food supply for the one billion people who are
undernourished.
(11)Established in 1983, the House Select
Committee on Hunger examined domestic and global hunger issues comprehensively
and made recommendations to the committees of jurisdiction on a broad range of
programmatic and policy matters. These efforts led to increased resources for a
variety of crucial emergency, safety net, health, education, income generation,
agricultural development, child survival, and other programs. Congressional
authorization for the House Select Committee on Hunger ended in January
1993.
(12)In May 2008, the GAO released the report,
International Food Security: Insufficient Efforts by Host Governments
and Donors Threaten Progress to Halve Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa by
2015
, indicating that current efforts by the United States and
international donors would not achieve the goal of cutting hunger in half by
2015 in sub-Sahara Africa. The GAO called for a governmentwide comprehensive
plan to design, implement, oversee, and evaluate United States programs and
funding with respect to achieving the goal.
(13)President Barack Obama has committed the
United States to new leadership in the effort to reduce by half global hunger
and poverty by 2015, a commitment that was reiterated on January 26, 2009, by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the High Level Meeting on Food Security
for All Conference held in Madrid, Spain. On April 2, 2009, the President
announced at the conclusion of the G–20 Meeting in London the need to provide
“immediate assistance to vulnerable populations” as a result of the global
financial crisis and to “double support for agricultural development” so that
people might “lift themselves out of poverty”.
(14)On February 24,
2009, a broad-based coalition of United States nongovernmental organizations
released the “Roadmap to End Global Hunger”, outlining a comprehensive policy
framework and specific funding levels for United States food assistance and
development programs through fiscal year 2014, including the creation of a
White House office on global hunger, appointment of a global hunger
coordinator, restoration of a select committee on hunger, and the development
and implementation of a comprehensive governmentwide plan to alleviate global
hunger.
3.
(a)It shall be the policy of the United States to reduce
global hunger, advance nutrition, increase food security, and ensure that
relevant Federal policies and programs—
(1)provide emergency
response and direct support to vulnerable populations in times of need, whether
provoked by natural disaster, conflict, or acute economic difficulties;
(2)increase
resilience to and reduce, limit, or mitigate the impact of shocks on vulnerable
populations, reducing the need for emergency interventions;
(3)increase and build
the capacity of people and governments to sustainably feed themselves;
(4)ensure adequate
access for all individuals, especially mothers and children, to the required
calories and nutrients needed to live healthy lives;
(5)strengthen the
ability of small-scale farmers, especially women, to sustain and increase their
production and livelihoods; and
(6)incorporate
sustainable and environmentally sound agricultural methods and
practices.
(b)It
shall be further the policy of the United States that initiatives developed to
carry out subsection (a)—
(1)be guided by a
comprehensive governmentwide strategy under Presidential leadership that
integrates the policies and programs of all Federal agencies;
(2)be balanced and
flexible to allow for programs that meet emergency needs and increased
investments in longer-term programs;
(3)develop mechanisms
that allow cash and commodity-based resources to be effectively
combined;
(4)define clear
targets, benchmarks and indicators of success, including gender analysis, in
order to monitor implementation, guarantee accountability, and determine
whether beneficiaries achieve increased and sustainable food security;
(5)employ the full
range of diplomatic resources and provide incentives to other countries to meet
their obligations to reduce hunger and promote food security; and
(6)work within a
framework of multilateral commitments.
4.Establishment of
the White House Office on Global Hunger and Food Security
(a)Congress finds the following:
(1)Hunger, malnutrition, under-nutrition, and
food insecurity affect nearly every aspect of international security,
development, and humanitarian response within the Federal Government.
(2)While the United States cannot be expected
to shoulder the majority of global investments in ending hunger and providing
food security, the United States can and should lead the international
community by taking immediate steps to make existing Federal programs more
effective by increasing funding and requiring greater accountability in the
implementation and effectiveness of United States global hunger, nutrition,
safety net, emergency response, and agricultural development policies and
programs.
(3)Despite the broad range of United States
policies and programs related to ending global hunger and promoting food
security, there is no single office, official, or comprehensive governmentwide
strategy that effectively integrates these activities and allows for
comprehensive budgeting, evaluation, oversight, and accountability.
(b)There is established in the Executive
Office of the President the White House Office on Global Hunger and Food
Security (hereinafter referred to in this section as the
Office
).
(c)The functions of the Office shall include
the following:
(1)Providing advice to the President on global
hunger and food security issues.
(2)Providing leadership and taking actions,
consistent with applicable law, to ensure that efforts to reduce global hunger
and increase food security are priorities of the Federal Government.
(3)Working with Federal departments and
agencies to ensure that addressing global hunger and food security is
prioritized within such departments and agencies and that appropriate
consideration is given by such departments and agencies to the potential impact
of their actions on global hunger and food security, including in United States
diplomatic, trade, energy, and labor relations.
(4)Coordinating the development and
implementation of a comprehensive governmentwide strategy to address global
hunger and food security within an overall strategy for global development as
described in subsection (e).
(5)Maintaining an
inventory of global hunger and food security programs and activities of the
Federal Government.
(6)Assessing existing authorities and
mechanisms within the Federal Government to address global hunger and food
security and identifying the shortfalls of such authorities and
mechanisms.
(7)Preparing and submitting to the President
and Congress an annual report on the expenditures of the Federal Government for
global hunger and food security programs and a suggested budget for such
programs.
(8)Working with Federal departments and
agencies, including the Office of Management and Budget, to take actions,
consistent with applicable law, to ensure that Federal programs addressing
global hunger and food security receive adequate, sustained, and reliable
funding and that such funding is effectively spent.
(9)Establishing indicators to measure progress
with respect to specific global hunger and food security targets, including
gender-sensitive goals, in consultation with and with input solicited from
stakeholders, potential beneficiaries, and implementing agencies and entities
and ensuring adequate monitoring and evaluation of such indicators, including
reporting to the President quarterly on the progress of Federal departments and
agencies in meeting such targets and the contribution to such progress by the
high-level, governmentwide global hunger and food security meeting, described
in subsection (f)(3).
(10)Taking actions, consistent with applicable
law, to ensure Federal Government coordination with other donor governments and
international institutions.
(11)Consulting with relevant public, private,
and nongovernmental groups in the development, implementation, and monitoring
of the comprehensive governmentwide strategy to address global hunger and food
security.
(12)Promoting public awareness of the
importance of addressing global hunger and food security and Federal efforts to
achieve the goal of cutting global hunger in half by 2015.
(13)Submitting to the President and Congress,
not later than March 31 of each year, an annual report on the implementation of
the comprehensive governmentwide strategy to address global hunger and food
security, including an assessment of agency innovations, achievements, and
failures to perform, and policy and budget recommendations for changes to
agency operations, priorities, and funding.
(d)Coordinator of
the OfficeThe President shall appoint a Coordinator on Global
Hunger and Food Security (hereinafter referred to in this section as the
Coordinator
). The Coordinator shall be the head of the Office
and shall report to the President.
(e)Comprehensive
governmentwide strategy
(1)The Coordinator shall develop and take actions,
consistent with applicable law, to implement a comprehensive governmentwide
strategy to address global hunger and food security across the Federal
Government, which shall include content with respect to programs and policies
for—
(A)emergency response and management;
(B)safety nets,
social protection, and disaster risk reduction;
(C)nutrition;
(D)market-based agriculture, the
rehabilitation and expansion of rural agricultural infrastructure, and rural
development;
(E)agricultural
education, research and development, and extension services;
(F)government to
government technical assistance programs;
(G)natural resource management,
environmentally sound agriculture, and responses to the impact of climate
change on agriculture and food production;
(H)monitoring and
evaluation mechanisms; and
(I)provision of adequate and sustained
resources, including multiyear funding, to ensure the scale and duration of
programs required to carry out the United States commitment to alleviate global
hunger and promote food security.
(2)Coordination
with international goalsIn
accordance with applicable law, the Coordinator shall ensure that the
comprehensive governmentwide strategy described in paragraph (1) contributes to
achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing global hunger by half not
later than 2015 and to advancing the United Nations Comprehensive Framework for
Action with respect to global hunger and food security, including supporting
the United Nations, international agencies, governments and other relevant
organizations and entities in carrying out the Comprehensive Framework for
Action.
(3)Integration with
national strategy for global developmentThe Coordinator shall
take actions to ensure that the comprehensive governmentwide strategy described
in paragraph (1) is integrated into any review or development of a Federal
strategy for global development that sets forth or establishes the United
States mission for global development, guidelines for assistance programs, and
how development policy will be coordinated with policies governing trade,
immigration, and other relevant international issues.
(f)Coordination
with Federal departments and agencies
(1)In performing its
functions, the Office shall work with all relevant Federal departments and
agencies, including the following:
(A)The Central
Intelligence Agency.
(B)The Department of Agriculture.
(C)The Department of
Commerce.
(D)The Department of
Defense.
(E)The Department of
Energy.
(F)The Department of
Health and Human Services.
(G)The Department of Labor.
(H)The Department of
State.
(I)The Department of
Treasury.
(J)The Environmental Protection Agency.
(K)The Millennium Challenge
Corporation.
(L)The Office of Management and Budget.
(M)The Office of the
United States Trade Representative.
(N)The Peace Corps.
(O)The United States Agency for International
Development.
(P)The United States Trade and Development
Agency.
(Q)The Office of
Global Women’s Issues of the Department of State.
(2)To the extent permitted by law, all Federal departments
and agencies shall cooperate with the Office and provide such information,
support, and assistance to the Office as the Coordinator may request.
(3)High-Level,
governmentwide global hunger and food security meeting
(A)The Coordinator shall establish, schedule,
and administer a high-level, governmentwide global hunger and food security
meeting (hereinafter referred to in this paragraph as the
meeting
) once each week in accordance with this
paragraph.
(B)The
Coordinator and the head of each entity listed in paragraph (1), or the
designees of such individuals, shall attend each meeting. The Coordinator may
select additional individuals to attend the meeting as the Coordinator
determines appropriate.
(C)The
meeting shall be chaired by the Coordinator.
(D)The purpose of the meeting shall be to
ensure that attendees of the meeting coordinate and take actions, consistent
with applicable law, to implement the comprehensive governmentwide strategy to
address global hunger and food security described in subsection (e).
(E)The Coordinator shall ensure that the meeting
includes consultation with and participation of non-Federal organizations with
experience and expertise in combating global hunger and promoting food
security.
(g)The Coordinator shall take actions, consistent with
applicable law, to ensure that the Office has the staff and other resources
necessary to carry out this section.
(h)Report on
comprehensive governmentwide strategyNot later than two years
after the date of the enactment of this Act and biennially thereafter, the
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report
evaluating the design, implementation, and Federal Government coordination of
the comprehensive governmentwide strategy to address global hunger and food
security required under subsection (e).
(i)Nothing in this section shall be construed to impair
or otherwise affect the authority granted to a Federal department or agency, or
the head thereof, by any other provision of law.
(j)Authorization of
appropriationsTo carry out
this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2010 through 2014 and such sums as may be necessary for subsequent
fiscal years.
5.Establishment of
Permanent Joint Select Committee On Hunger
(a)Congress finds the following:
(1)Funding, programs, and jurisdiction for
addressing global hunger and food security are divided among many congressional
committees and, as a result, inadequate emphasis is often given to addressing
global hunger and food security in a comprehensive way.
(2)As the White House Office on Global Hunger
and Food Security, established under section 4, coordinates the programs,
activities, and policies of the numerous Federal departments and agencies
charged with carrying out hunger alleviation and food security programs, the
establishment of a Permanent Joint Select Committee on Hunger will promote
coordination across the multiple committees with jurisdiction and legislative
authority over global hunger and food security issues.
(b)There is established a Permanent Joint
Select Committee on Hunger (hereinafter referred to in this section as the
Committee
).
(c)The
Committee shall be composed of 16 members in accordance with the
following:
(1)8
Members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, of whom 3 shall be appointed in consultation with the
minority leader of the House of Representatives.
(2)8
Members of the Senate, of whom 5 shall be appointed by the majority leader of
the Senate and 3 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the
Senate.
(d)A
vacancy in the membership of the Committee shall be filled in the same manner
as the original appointment.
(e)The
Committee shall select a chairman from among its members at the beginning of
each Congress. The chairmanship shall alternate between the House of
Representatives and the Senate with each Congress and the chairman shall be
selected by the Members from that House entitled to the chairmanship.
(f)The Committee shall—
(1)hold hearings, conduct investigations,
issue independent reports and analyses, and make policy and program
recommendations to relevant congressional committees of jurisdiction on issues
related to global hunger, nutrition, food security, rural and agricultural
development, emergency and humanitarian responses, safety nets and social
protection, and other global hunger or food security programs, including the
effectiveness of such programs in addressing global hunger and food security;
and
(2)examine issues
relevant to the development, implementation, and monitoring of the
comprehensive governmentwide strategy to address global hunger and food
security provided by the White House Office on Global Hunger and Food Security
through the holding of hearings, review of reports, and other relevant
activities.
(g)In
carrying out its duties under this section, the Committee is authorized
to—
(1)hold hearings and
sit and act at places and times within the United States and outside the United
States during the sessions, recesses, and adjourned periods of Congress;
(2)require the
attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents,
administer oaths, take testimony, and procure printing and binding;
(3)record hearings,
prepare and provide transcripts of hearings, use transcribers, recorders and
stenographers, and establish a Web site;
(4)make rules
respecting its organization and procedures; and
(5)exercise any other
authority of a committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate and
utilize the resources of the House of Representatives and the Senate, except as
provided otherwise in this section.
(h)The
Committee may appoint and fix the compensation of staff as it deems
necessary.
(i)The Committee may
not exercise legislative jurisdiction and may not take legislative action on
any bill or resolution.
(j)The
provisions of this section are enacted by Congress—
(1)as an exercise of
the rulemaking power of the House of Representatives and the Senate,
respectively, and as such they shall be considered as part of the rules of each
House, respectively, or of that House to which they specifically apply, and
such rules shall supersede other rules only to the extent that they are
inconsistent therewith; and
(2)with full
recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change such rules
(so far as relating to such House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the
same extent as in the case of any other rule of such House.
(k)
(1)Payments for expenses of the Committee
shall be made using vouchers authorized by the Committee, signed by the
chairman of the Committee, and approved in a manner directed by the Committee
on House Administration of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Rules and Administration of the Senate.
(2)
(A)There shall
be paid out of the applicable accounts of the House of Representatives
$3,000,000 to carry out this section during the 111th Congress.
(B)There shall be paid out of the contingent
fund of the Senate $3,000,000 to carry out this section during the 111th
Congress.
6.
(a)To carry out the comprehensive
governmentwide strategy described in section 4(e), it is the sense of Congress
that not less than $50,360,000,000 should be made available for fiscal years
2010 through 2014 for Federal programs addressing global hunger and food
security. During such five-year period, funding should increase investments in
intermediate and long-term programs, including safety nets, nutrition, and
agricultural development programs, and maintain sufficient resources for
emergency management and response. It is further the sense of Congress that
funding for Federal programs addressing global hunger and food security should,
to the maximum extent possible, use as guidance and not be less than those
amounts described for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 in the Roadmap to End
Global Hunger.
(b)In
this section, the term Roadmap to End Global Hunger means the
report entitled Roadmap To End Global Hunger
, released on
February 24, 2009, and endorsed by the following organizations:
(1)ACDI/VOCA.
(2)Action Against
Hunger.
(3)Africare.
(4)Alliance for
Global Food Security.
(5)Alliance to End
Hunger.
(6)American Jewish
World Service.
(7)Better World
Campaign.
(8)Bread for the
World.
(9)CARE.
(10)Catholic Relief
Services.
(11)Christian
Children’s Fund.
(12)Christian
Reformed World Relief Committee.
(13)Church World
Service.
(14)Concern
Worldwide.
(15)Congressional
Hunger Center.
(16)Counterpart
International.
(17)Covenant World
Relief.
(18)Episcopal Relief
and Development.
(19)Feed the
Children.
(20)Food for the
Hungry.
(21)Friends of the
World Food Program.
(22)Global Child
Nutrition Foundation.
(23)Heifer
International.
(24)The Humpty Dumpty
Institute.
(25)The International
Center for Research on Women.
(26)International
Relief and Development.
(27)Islamic
Relief.
(28)LIFE for Relief
and Development.
(29)MAZON: A Jewish
Response to Hunger.
(30)Mercy
Corps.
(31)Oxfam
America.
(32)Partnership to
Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa.
(33)PATH.
(34)Project Concern
International.
(35)RESULTS.
(36)Save the
Children.
(37)United Methodist
Committee on Relief (UMCOR).
(38)US Coalition for
Child Survival.
(39)U.S. Fund for
UNICEF.
(40)Women Organizing
for Change in Agriculture and NRM.
(41)Women Thrive
Worldwide.
(42)World
Vision.
7.Definition of
undernourishmentIn this Act,
the term undernourishment, as defined by the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization, means the condition of people whose food
consumption is continuously below a minimum dietary energy requirement for
maintaining an acceptable minimum body size, living a healthy life, and
carrying out light physical activity. In this Act, the terms chronic
undernourishment, food insecurity, and hunger
have the same meaning as undernourishment
.