[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 29, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5981-S5982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 728--RECOGNIZING THE INSTRUMENTAL ROLE UNITED STATES 
    GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMS, PARTICULARLY THE FEED THE FUTURE 
 PROGRAM, HAVE PLAYED IN REDUCING GLOBAL POVERTY, BUILDING RESILIENCE 
AND TACKLING HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION AROUND THE WORLD, AND CALLING FOR 
    CONTINUED INVESTMENT IN GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY IN THE FACE OF THE 
                      ECONOMIC IMPACT OF COVID-19

  Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. Risch) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 728

       Whereas food security and nutrition are fundamental to 
     human development, particularly in the critical 1,000 day 
     window until a child's second birthday, and persistent hunger 
     and malnutrition stunt children's mental and physical 
     development and hinder the health, prosperity, and security 
     of societies;
       Whereas food insecurity and malnutrition in low- and 
     middle-income countries force tens of millions of people into 
     poverty, contribute to political and social instability, and 
     erode economic growth;
       Whereas in its 2014 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the 
     United States, the United States intelligence community 
     reported that the ``lack of adequate food will be a 
     destabilizing factor in countries important to United States 
     national security'' and has since consistently linked global 
     food insecurity to broader instability;
       Whereas, despite decades of progress, the State of Food 
     Security and Nutrition in the World report for 2020 indicates 
     that global hunger has increased since 2014, with 
     2,000,000,000 people worldwide currently experiencing food 
     insecurity, of which nearly

[[Page S5982]]

     750,000,000 people are facing severe food insecurity, and 
     10,000,000 more people having fallen into hunger between 2018 
     and 2019, 144,000,000 children stunted, and 47,000,0000 
     children experiencing wasting;
       Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities 
     in global food systems and food supply chains, and has 
     severely exacerbated existing food security shocks, such as 
     the Fall Army Worm and desert locust infestations in the Horn 
     of Africa region, particularly in Kenya, Ethiopia, and 
     Somalia, as well as parts of Asia and the Middle East, which 
     already represented an unprecedented threat to global food 
     security and livelihoods;
       Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic and its second-order impacts 
     are expected to dramatically worsen the state of global food 
     security and nutrition, with preliminary assessments 
     predicting a doubling of severe hunger (from 135,000,000 to 
     265,000,000 people) and an increase in child wasting (from 
     47,000,000 to 52,000,000) by the end of 2020;
       Whereas the United States has been a global leader in 
     addressing food insecurity on a bipartisan basis and across 
     Administrations, particularly in response to the global food 
     price crisis in 2007-2008 and subsequent launch of the whole-
     of-government, United States Agency for International 
     Development-led, Feed the Future program in 2010;
       Whereas the late Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana was 
     instrumental in advancing United States efforts to reduce 
     global poverty through smart investments in agriculture and 
     food security, including through his stewardship of the 
     Global Food Security Acts of 2008 and 2009, support for the 
     launch of the Feed the Future program in 2010, and continued 
     advocacy to formally authorize the Feed the Future program 
     through enactment of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 
     (Public Law 114-195) and the Global Food Security 
     Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-266);
       Whereas the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (Public Law 
     114-195), as enacted in 2016 and reauthorized in 2018, 
     required the development and implementation of a 
     comprehensive United States Government Global Food Security 
     Strategy and codified the Feed the Future framework, 
     strengthening its accountability and transparency mechanisms, 
     deepening interagency engagement, and engaging a broad 
     coalition of stakeholders, including faith-based and civil 
     society organizations, universities and research 
     institutions, the United States private sector, and United 
     States farm and commodity organizations;
       Whereas Feed the Future investments have helped transform 
     countries' food systems and improve their own food security 
     and nutrition, with investments currently focused in twelve 
     target countries and 35 aligned countries and regions in 
     Asia, Central America, and east, southern, and west Africa;
       Whereas according to its most recent progress report, Feed 
     the Future has helped more than 23,400,000 people lift 
     themselves out of poverty, prevented 3,400,000 children from 
     being stunted, and ensured that 5,200,000 families no longer 
     suffer from hunger in areas where the program operates;
       Whereas Feed the Future is making significant progress 
     towards building local capacity and resilience by promoting 
     inclusive economic growth, strengthening monitoring and 
     evaluation, implementing sustainable agricultural practices, 
     risk management, improving forecasting and adaptation, and 
     building the agricultural capacity of rural communities;
       Whereas Feed the Future also is advancing women's economic 
     empowerment by providing targeted technical assistance to 
     women working in agricultural systems and equipping women 
     with adequate tools, training, and technology for small-scale 
     agriculture;
       Whereas Feed the Future investments benefit communities in 
     the United States as well, including by increasing United 
     States trade and agricultural exports to Feed the Future 
     countries by more than $1,400,000,000 since inception; and
       Whereas Feed the Future investments in international 
     agricultural research and development through partnerships 
     with United States universities and land-grant institutions, 
     international research systems, such as the Consortium of 
     International Agricultural Research Centers, and other 
     organizations will help the United States agricultural sector 
     prepare for, adapt to, and remain resilient amid evolving 
     threats; Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports continued investment in United States global 
     food security programs, and particularly through the Feed the 
     Future program's comprehensive, multi-sectoral, transparent, 
     data and results-driven approach toward reducing hunger, 
     poverty, and malnutrition in low- and middle-income 
     countries;
       (2) recognizes the need to deepen and extend these efforts 
     in order to achieve the global goal of ending hunger by 2030, 
     particularly in the face of unprecedented challenges posed by 
     the COVID-19 pandemic, political and social instability, high 
     levels of human displacement, gender inequities, extreme 
     natural shocks, and the increasing prevalence of invasive 
     agricultural pests, such as desert locusts and the Fall Army 
     Worm;
       (3) supports United States Government efforts to focus on 
     improving nutrition and health, building resilience, 
     integrating water, sanitation, and hygiene and empowering 
     women, youth, and smallholder farmers;
       (4) calls on the United States Agency for International 
     Development to--
       (A) annually review the Feed the Future program and, as 
     appropriate, expand the list of target countries, including 
     those in fragile contexts;
       (B) include information on all countries benefitting from 
     direct Feed the Future investments, to include both focus and 
     aligned countries, in annual reporting in order to further 
     enhance the program's commitment to transparency and impact;
       (C) develop a robust multi-sectoral learning agenda for 
     maternal and child malnutrition and its causes, with a focus 
     on the 1,000 day window until a child's second birthday;
       (D) strongly amplify the critical role of women and 
     smallholder farmers in enhancing food security and catalyzing 
     agriculture-led economic growth; and
       (E) advance the New Partnerships Initiative by promoting, 
     building the capacity of, and entering into partnerships with 
     locally-led organizations under the Feed the Future program;
       (5) calls on the relevant Federal agencies identified under 
     the United States Government Global Food Security Strategy, 
     including the United States Departments of State, 
     Agriculture, Commerce, and Treasury, and the United States 
     Agency for International Development, the Millennium 
     Challenge Corporation, the International Development Finance 
     Corporation, the Peace Corps, the Office of the United States 
     Trade Representative, the U.S. Africa Development Foundation, 
     and the U.S. Geological Survey, to--
       (A) continue to advance global food security as a United 
     States foreign assistance priority, enhance inter-agency 
     coordination under the Global Food Security Strategy, and 
     align relevant programs with the Feed the Future program's 
     needs-based, multi-sectoral approach; and
       (B) contribute to the development of an updated Global Food 
     Security Strategy and a Global Food Security Research 
     Strategy in 2021 to guide and inform Feed the Future 
     activities between 2022 and 2026.

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