[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 97 (Friday, June 27, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S8848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO 
   THE CURRENT NEED FOR FOOD IN THE HORN OF AFRICA REMAINS INADEQUATE

  The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution (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, 
which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign Relations with an 
amendment to the preamble.
  (Strike the part in black brackets.)

                              S. Res. 149

       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.

  The resolution (S. Res. 149) was agreed to.
  The amendment to the preamble was agreed to.
  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, as amended, reads as follows:
  (The resolution will be printed in a future edition of the Record.)

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