[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            FOOD AID FUNDING

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, very soon the administration is expected to 
send to Congress supplemental appropriation requests to address ongoing 
military needs in Iraq and the humanitarian crisis posed by the tsunami 
in the Indian Ocean. My hope is that the administration will include 
adequate food aid funding in that supplemental proposal. Recent press 
reports suggest they may be moving in that direction. If, however, the 
administration's proposed supplemental fails to provide adequate food 
aid funding, it is my intention to offer an amendment that would 
essentially accomplish four things.
  First, my amendment would provide full funding to meet U.S. food aid 
commitments from the tsunami under PL-480 title II. Second, my 
amendment will replenish PL-480 title II development funds that help 
meet our ongoing development programs across the globe. Third, it will 
shore up PL-480 title I funds that have been used as a stop-gap measure 
to address the crisis. And finally, it will replenish the Bill Emerson 
Humanitarian Trust, BEHT, so that our aid workers and development 
personnel can be assured of adequate resources to carry out their 
important lifesaving work in future crises.
  The tsunami brought images of destruction and human suffering on a 
scale that is hard for many of us to imagine. Americans responded with 
great generosity by committing unprecedented funds through private 
donations. Some $50 million, I am told, has been pledged through the 
American Red Cross alone.
  Federal workers and their cooperators in Washington and around the 
globe made an extraordinary effort to respond. Food resources that were 
prepositioned, and even some in transit, were shifted to address this 
crisis. For all their hard work and creativity, I commend them.
  What concerns me now, however, is how we proceed after the television 
networks scale back their coverage. Enormous need will remain even 
after the emergency is contained. It will be months, perhaps years, 
before rice paddies are desalinated, fishing boats are rebuilt and 
fishing nets are repaired. Self-sufficiency will not happen overnight. 
And while the people most directly affected by the tsunami are 
struggling to achieve a measure of self-sufficiency, the dire need for 
food aid continues in places such as Ethiopia and Sudan and many 
others. That is why I believe it is so critical that we reinforce our 
food aid capacity.
  In his inaugural address, the President spoke forcefully about ending 
tyranny and spreading democracy. Everyone shares those objectives. We 
also know that those objectives cannot be achieved solely by force or 
gesture politics. They demand a commitment to diplomacy and human 
compassion. Adequate funding for food aid is central to that process, 
and I invite my colleagues to join me in this effort.

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