[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 114 (Wednesday, July 27, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5587-H5588]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FAMINE IN AFRICA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Wisconsin (Ms. Moore) for 5 minutes.
Ms. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I had breakfast this morning. I had granola
and yogurt, a little fruit, an egg and bacon sandwich, and I'm feeling
irritable because I didn't have my coffee. I'm looking forward to a
delicious lunch that I've planned at about noontime.
But in the meantime, on the Horn of Africa, 11 million people are
facing starvation. And not because they're lazy people or unworthy
people, but because they're suffering from the biggest drought that
they have seen in 60 years, because they're experiencing flooding,
because there are people who have stepped away from the loving care
that we usually extend to others of our brothers and sisters, others
who are human beings on this planet. Tens of thousands of people will
die.
There is an official famine that has been called by the United
Nations. And for those of you who know what a famine is, it's not when
you don't have a particular thing like me--I didn't have my coffee this
morning. Famine exists when at least 20 percent of the population has
extremely limited access to basic food requirements, global acute
malnutrition exceeds 30 percent, and the death rate exceeds 2 out of
10,000 per day for the entire population.
An example that was in the news recently is of a 7-month-old Somali
boy who weighed the same amount as any one of our newborns--weighed 7
pounds. A 7-month-old boy weighed 7 pounds. That is an example of what
happens in a drought.
And what are we doing here in the United States of America, the
world's largest humanitarian donor, when the United Nations has called
for, on July 20, has asked for more than $1.6 billion to support the
humanitarian response in the next 12 months urgently, desperately
needed to address and abet this bourgeoning humanitarian crisis that is
unfolding? We are in the midst of cutting funding of our foreign aid
and peace food budget.
The fiscal year 2012 Agricultural appropriations budget bill that
passed a few weeks ago, over my opposition, cut this program by $200
million. It was heartbreaking to see amendment after amendment after
amendment come forward to cut it further, and even amendments to
eliminate it completely.
{time} 1040
The United States, as the world's largest humanitarian donor, we need
to do more. We talk about balanced budgets here; and there are people
in this world, our brothers and sisters, who don't even have a balanced
meal on a day-to-day basis.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask that we not become numb to the conditions of
peoples around the world. Less than 1 percent of our budget goes toward
foreign aid, and that includes operations of the State Department and
everything, Mr. Speaker. I'm asking that in these discussions of debt
and deficits that we do not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to those
people who are starving.
In closing, I just want to mention, Mr. Speaker, that of course we
know who suffers disproportionately among the poor, the usual suspects.
Women and children are disproportionately represented among those who
are food insecure, those who are starving, and those who die.
I thank my colleague for yielding and for his continued leadership to
make sure that we do not forget or overlook this tragedy that is
currently occurring in the Horn of Africa. I know that as chairman, and
now, ranking member of the Africa Subcommittee, he has been a true
leader in working to empower the people and nations of Africa.
The United Nations has declared a famine in parts of Somalia and an
emergency humanitarian crisis throughout the Horn of Africa--including
Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia.
In Somalia alone, tens of thousands of people have died in the past
three months because they cannot get enough food to keep themselves
alive.
Tens of thousands will surely die in the coming months if the
international community, led by the U.S., does not respond quickly and
comprehensively. Famine exists when at least 20 percent of the
population has extremely limited access to basic food requirements,
global acute malnutrition exceeds 30 percent, and the death rate
exceeds 2 out of 10,000 per day for the entire population.
The lives of over 11 million people in East Africa are at risk. That
is twice the population of my state of Wisconsin. And as usual, those
most vulnerable women and children are suffering disproportionately.
One in every three children in southern Somalia is malnourished (some
550,000 total). UNICEF estimates that 2.3 million children are
suffering from acute malnutrition in the region.
These numbers don't include those who are dying on literal ``roads of
death'' as they attempt to flee famine in Somalia to neighboring
countries (Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea) that are struggling with drought
themselves.
There was a news report recently about a 7-month old Somali boy who
weighed the same as a newborn, some 7 pounds. At this stage in his
life, he should weight three times as much. A nurse at the refugee camp
his family made it to recently puts the little boy's odds of survival
at 50-50, a flip of a coin.
The U.N. has asked for some $1.6 billion to support the humanitarian
response in the next 12 months.
Yet, as the humanitarian crisis unfolds, this Congress is in the
midst of cutting funding our foreign food aid budget. The FY 2012
Agricultural Appropriations bill that passed a few weeks ago over my
opposition, would cut Food for Peace programs by some $200 million.
During that debate, some of my colleagues offered amendments to even
make deeper cuts and even eliminate funding for that program all
together. It's as if we are telling the men, women, and children
desperately searching for food, to ``keep warm and well fed.''
I hope that my colleagues on the House Foreign Operations Committee
will not make that same mistake and will in fact boost funding for our
global humanitarian aid programs which will be needed as this crisis
unfolds.
[[Page H5588]]
The U.S., as the world's largest humanitarian donor, must do more if
a humanitarian catastrophe is to be averted.
Tens of thousands of lives can be saved, but the window of
opportunity to do so is extremely limited and is closing even as we
speak.
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