[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 81 (Tuesday, June 12, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S6120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  McGOVERN-DOLE INTERNATIONAL FOOD ACT

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise today to speak briefly in support 
of the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child 
Nutrition Act of 2001. I am proud to join Senators Harkin, Durbin, and 
Leahy, who were instrumental in the introduction of this bill, as well 
as my other colleagues who are co-sponsors. Additionally, I would like 
to acknowledge the efforts of two former members of this body, Senators 
George McGovern and Bob Dole, who worked tirelessly to initiate this 
program decades ago.
  As many of my colleagues well know, almost 300 million children in 
this world go hungry on a daily basis. Can you imagine that--300 
million children? The number is staggering--almost five percent of the 
world's population; more than the population of our entire country. 
Think of it--if everyone, every person that we know, every man, woman 
and child in the United States, did not get enough to eat. If that were 
the case, I would imagine that we in this chamber would not hesitate to 
take action and remedy the situation. That is what this bill attempts 
to do; it is merely a first step, an important step for these hundreds 
of millions of children who are going hungry around the world.
  We must ensure that every child, no matter where they live, no matter 
what their income level, receives at least one nutritious meal per day. 
One meal per day, for every child in the world. As little as that may 
seem to those of us here, it could mean the difference between life and 
death for many of these children. I make sure that my son and daughter 
get three nutritious meals a day; I am sure that all of my colleagues 
do the same for their children. It is not too much to ask that we 
provide just one meal for these hungry children all over the world.
  But this is not just about meals; as noble a goal as that is, this is 
also about education. Of these 300 million children, almost half are 
not in school. What we are trying to do is encourage these children to 
attend school by helping their schools feed them when they are there. 
As George McGovern himself said, ``The school lunch brings children to 
school; education lowers the birthrate, increases personal income, and 
provides a market for surplus farm commodities.''; So it not just a 
meal we are helping to provide for these children; it is an education.
  Finally, for some who may say this is a handout, it is not. This 
program is designed to help developing countries set up their own 
school lunch programs, so that one day they can take full 
responsibility for feeding their students. In other words, this is not 
a handout, but a hand up. There is an old saying that if you give a man 
a fish, he eats for a day; if you teach him to fish, he eats for a 
lifetime. We are trying to teach these countries how to fish, by 
providing them the means to do so. I hope that my colleagues will come 
together in support of this critical legislation, and we in Congress 
can approve this bill quickly and send it to the President for his 
signature.

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