[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 1, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H1396-H1397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FOOD SECURITY IS NATIONAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, at the end of January, the United Nations 
reported that the cost of basic food commodities--basic grains, 
vegetable oils, sugar--were at their highest levels since the U.N. 
created this index in 1990.
  Two weeks ago, World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced that 
the Bank's food price index shows food prices are now 29 percent higher 
than they were a year ago. Zoellick warned the G-20 to put food first 
when they next meet.
  The World Bank estimates that these recent food price spikes have 
pushed about 44 million people into extreme poverty. That's under $1.25 
a day.
  This is a global security crisis.
  The lack of food security contributes to political instability. Food 
was a primary reason people first took to the streets in Tunisia. Food 
and poverty were right at the top of the list in the squares of Egypt 
right next to the call for political freedom.
  In 2007 to 2008, the last global food crisis, there were major food 
riots in nearly 40 countries. In May 2008, my fellow cochair of the 
House Hunger Caucus, Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, and I were briefed 
by the GAO about the lack of coordination and continuity in U.S. food 
and development programs. We started calling for a comprehensive 
approach to address global hunger and food insecurity.
  Now, thanks in large part to the efforts and leadership of Secretary 
of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Director Raj Shah, the U.S. 
Government responded to that call and, over a 2-year period of time, 
initiated a comprehensive, government-wide approach to reduce global 
hunger and increase nutrition and food security--not because it feels 
good, not even because it's the right and moral thing to do, but 
because it's in our national security and economic interest to make 
countries' food secure, more productive, healthier, and more stable.
  This strategy is known as the Global Hunger and Food Security 
Initiative. It includes our bilateral programs and efforts with other 
governments and multilateral institutions. To be successful, everyone 
has to pitch in.
  Feed the Future is the signature program of the U.S. strategy. It 
works with small farmers and governments to increase agricultural 
production and strengthen local and regional markets in order to reduce 
hunger and grow economies.
  Other key elements include the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and 
Child Nutrition Program that brings kids to school and keeps them there 
by making sure that they get at least one nutritious meal each day at 
school. This program has proven to be especially effective in 
convincing families to send their daughters to school.
  And finally, there is our Food for Peace Program, which provides food 
to millions of women, children, and men caught in life-threatening 
situations brought on by natural disasters, war, and internal conflict. 
This program provides U.S.-grown commodities and locally purchased 
foods that literally keep people trying to survive in the world's most 
dangerous situations alive.
  Mr. Speaker, I have never heard anyone say that they would like to 
see more hunger in the world, that they would like to see children too 
weak from hunger to be able to learn, or young girls forced to work 
long hours because they no longer are being fed at school. But that's 
exactly what the budget cuts that passed the House 1 week ago would do.
  The House cut $800 million out of the food aid budget and over 40 
percent from the development assistance, which is where Feed the Future 
is funded. If these shortsighted and, quite frankly, callous cuts are 
allowed to stand, we would literally be taking the food out of the 
mouths of over 2 million children. We would be depriving

[[Page H1397]]

over 18 million people the food that keeps them alive in Haiti, Darfur, 
Afghanistan, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Kenya, and elsewhere. We would be 
turning our backs on countries where we made commitments to help boost 
the production of their own small farmers so they could finally free 
themselves of having to depend on U.S. and international food aid to 
feed their own people.
  Enough, Mr. Speaker, enough.
  This isn't a question of charity. It's an issue of national security, 
of what happens when desperate people can't find or afford food, and 
the anger that comes from people who see no future for their children 
except poverty and death.
  I ask President Obama to stand up for his programs and fight for 
them. I ask the White House to hold a global summit on hunger, 
nutrition, and food security. I ask the media to wake up and grasp the 
consequences of these shortsighted cuts. And I ask my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle to fund these programs so they can be 
successful. It really is a matter of life and death.

               [From the New York Times, Feb. 24, 2011.]

                            The Food Crisis

       Food prices are soaring to record levels, threatening many 
     developing countries with mass hunger and political 
     instability. Finance ministers of the Group of 20 leading 
     economies discussed the problem at a meeting in Paris last 
     week, but for all of their expressed concern, most are 
     already breaking their promises to help.
       After the last sharp price spike in 2008, the G-20 promised 
     to invest $22 billion over three years to help vulnerable 
     countries boost food production. To date, the World Bank fund 
     that is supposed to administer this money has received less 
     than $400 million.
       Food prices are now higher than their 2008 peak, driven by 
     rising demand in developing countries and volatile weather, 
     including drought in Russia and Ukraine and a dry spell in 
     North China that threatens the crop of the world's largest 
     wheat producer. The World Bank says the spike has pushed 44 
     million people into extreme poverty just since June.
       In 2008, 30 countries had food riots. That has not 
     happened, at least not yet. Sub-Saharan Africa, in 
     particular, has benefited from improved agricultural 
     productivity. The United Nations Food and Agriculture 
     Organization warns that Mozambique, Uganda, Mali, Niger and 
     Somalia are extremely vulnerable to instability because of 
     rising prices, along with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Asia, 
     and Haiti, Guatemala, Bolivia and Honduras in Latin America.
       Misguided government policies could make matters worse. 
     Some countries are stockpiling food. When India did that last 
     year, food ended up rotting in storages. Others are imposing 
     agricultural export bans, which discourages investment in 
     production. The world's wealthier nations must press them to 
     rethink these polices and back that up with real help.
       The Obama administration has proposed worthy initiatives, 
     but even when Democrats controlled Congress it had a hard 
     time getting the money. The administration pledged $3.5 
     billion to the G-20 effort. So far, it has delivered only 
     $66.6 million to the World Bank fund.
       It is now asking for $408 million for the fund--part of a 
     $1.64 billion request for its Feed the Future initiative, 
     which aims to bolster poor countries' food production 
     capabilities. Congressional Republicans are determined to 
     hack as much as they can out of foreign aid. The continuing 
     resolution passed by the House cuts $800 million out of the 
     food aid budget--bringing it down to about $1 billion, 
     roughly where it was in 2001.
       The White House needs to push back hard. This isn't a 
     question of charity. It is an issue of life or death for 
     millions of people. And the hard truth is that if the United 
     States doesn't keep its word, no one else will.

                          ____________________