[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 149 (Friday, October 9, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION PROGRAMS IN AFRICA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 9, 2015

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week I convened a 
hearing on the topic of food security and nutrition programs in Africa. 
I am the sponsor of the Global Food Security Act of 2015, a bill which 
in its prior iteration passed the House of Representatives. The Global 
Food Security Act, H.R. 1567, will help provide a long-term strategy to 
combat global hunger by authorizing the existing national food security 
initiative coordinated by USAID commonly known as Feed the Future. It 
is a bill with broad bipartisan support, including the original co-
sponsorship of my friend and colleague Karen Bass as well as Foreign 
Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel.
   Investing in global food security is a policy that is both penny 
wise and pound wise.
   This program strengthens nutrition, especially for children during 
that critical first 1000-day window, from conception to the child's 
second birthday.
   Indeed, there is perhaps no wiser investment that we could make in 
the human person than to concentrate on ensuring that sufficient 
nutrition and health assistance is given during the first one thousand 
days of life: A thousand days that begins with conception, continues 
throughout pregnancy, includes the milestone of birth and then finishes 
at roughly the second birthday of the child.
   Children who do not receive adequate nutrition in utero are more 
likely to experience lifelong cognitive and physical deficiencies, such 
as stunting. UNICEF estimates that one in four children worldwide is 
stunted due to lack of adequate nutrition.
   By addressing nutrition during the first 1000 days of life, we help 
lay the groundwork that the next 25,000 days--or whatever the number is 
that our Creator has allotted--are filled with good health.
   As the three witnesses at the hearing attested, enhancing food 
security is also transformational in the lives of millions of small-
holder farmers throughout the world, particularly women. Feed the 
Future teaches small-scale farmers techniques to increase agricultural 
yield, thereby helping nations achieve food security, something that is 
in the national security interest of the United States as well.
   It is also economical in the long run, and should lead to a 
reduction in the need for emergency food aid. The approach we have 
taken in the Global Food Security Act is fiscally disciplined, 
authorizing an amount for 2016 which is less than what we appropriated 
for food security programs in 2014. USAID is nevertheless able to do 
more with less by leveraging our aid with that of other countries, the 
private sector, NGOs and, especially faith-based organizations, whose 
great work on the ground in so many different countries impacts so many 
lives, and who were ably represented at the hearing by Carolyn Woo of 
Catholic Relief Services.
   By statutorily authorizing this existing program, which had its 
roots in the Bush administration and was formalized by President Obama, 
we are also increasing our oversight by requiring the administration to 
report to Congress.
   Political will is absolutely essential to enacting a global food 
security policy that will continue. Such interventions in the lives of 
so many people in Africa, particularly in the first 1000 days of life, 
are not only cost-effective but morally imperative.

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