[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16949-16951]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 16949]]

     THE IMPORTANCE OF A GLOBAL SCHOOL LUNCH AND GLOBAL WIC PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 2000

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I was very excited to read the July 23, 
2000 statement by President Clinton at the G-8 Summit in Okinawa, 
Japan, announcing a $300 million initial start-up program in support of 
a universal school and pre-school feeding program for the over 300 
million hungry children of the world. On July 27th, the Senate 
Agriculture Committee held a hearing on this issue and invited former 
Senators George McGovern and Bob Dole, the two chief proponents of this 
initiative, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, Senator Richard 
Durbin, myself, and several others to testify.
  This is a remarkable initiative to promote education and reduce 
hunger among children world wide. I would like to enter into the Record 
the President's statement describing this initiative, as well as the 
testimony of Ambassador George McGovern and my own testimony before the 
Senate Agriculture Commitee.

THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION: BUILDING A STRONGER GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP 
 FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SUPPORT FOR BASIC EDUCATION AND 
                   CHILDHOOD NUTRITION--JULY 23, 2000

       Today, President Clinton announced new Initiatives to 
     expand access to basic education and improve childhood 
     development in poor counties. Part of the Okinawa Summit's 
     unprecedented emphasis on international development, these 
     measures include:
       (1) A new $300 million U.S. Department of Agriculture 
     international school nutrition pilot program to improve 
     student enrollment, attendance, and performance in poor 
     countries. (2) Endorsement by the G-8 of key international 
     ``Education for All'' goals, including the principle that no 
     country with a strong national action plan to achieve 
     universal access to primary education by 2015 should be 
     permitted to fail for lack of resources. (3) A now commitment 
     by the World Bank to double lending for basic education in 
     poor countries--an estimated additional $1 billion per year, 
     (4) An FY 2001 Administration budget request to increase 
     funding for international basic education assistance by 50% 
     ($55 million) targeted to areas where structural weaknesses 
     in educational systems contribute to the prevalence of 
     abusive child labor.
       Better access to basic education can be a catalyst for 
     poverty reduction and broader participation in the benefits 
     of global economic integration. Literacy is fundamental not 
     only to economic opportunity in today's increasingly 
     knowledge-intensive economy but also to maternal and infant 
     health, prevention and treatment of HIV-AIDS and other 
     infectious diseases, elimination of abusive child labor, 
     improved agricultural productivity, sustainable population 
     growth and environmental conditions, and expanded democratic 
     participation and respect for human rights.
       (1) The U.S. will launch a $300 million school feeding 
     pilot program working through the UN World Food Program in 
     partnership with private voluntary organizations. Building on 
     ideas promoted by Ambassador George McGovern and former 
     Senator Robert Dole and explored at the World Food Program 
     (WFP), the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) would 
     purchase surplus agricultural commodities and donate them for 
     use in school feeding and pre-school nutrition programs in 
     poor countries with strong action plans to expand access to 
     and improve the quality of basic education.
       For the first year of the program, the USG would spend $300 
     million for commodities, international transportation, and 
     other costs under the current CCC authorities, feeding as 
     many as 9 million schoolchildren and pre-schoolers.
       The program would be initiated working through the WFP in 
     partnership with Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs), the 
     U.S. share of which could grow over time depending upon 
     participation by other donors and eligibility by developing 
     countries.
       Selection criteria would be based on need and include a 
     commitment and contribution of resources by the host 
     government, technical feasibility, good progress toward a 
     strong national action plan to achieve the Dakar Education, 
     for All goals, and a commitment by the host govemment to 
     assume responsibility for operating the program within a 
     reasonable time frame where feasible.
       A portion of the commodities could be sold to provide cash 
     resources for incountry program management, funding any 
     associated programs (e.g. feeding equipment purchases and 
     local-commodity purchases, etc.), In-country product storing, 
     processing, handling and transportation, and purchasing the 
     appropriate foods for the local program.
       Funding would come from USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation 
     under the surplus removal authority of the CCC Charter Act, 
     and Section 416(b) of the Agricultural Act of 1949, which 
     provides for overseas donations of commodities in CCC's 
     inventory to carry out assistance programs in developing 
     countries and friendly countries. The last several years have 
     seen record food surpluses in the U.S., with corresponding 
     record donations of food overseas. USDA analysts project 
     continued surpluses over the next few years.
       (2) The G-8 has strongly endorsed Education for All goals 
     and called for increased bilateral, multilateral, and private 
     donor support for country action plans. At the initiation of 
     the U.S., the G-8 has agreed to endorse the goals of a 
     recently concluded international conference on access to 
     basic education. Held in April 2000 in Dakar, Senegal, the 
     World Education Forum gathered over 1,000 leaders from 145 
     countries to increase the world community's commitment to 
     basic education in poor countries by:
       Ensuring that no country with a strong national action plan 
     to expand access to and improve the quality of basic 
     education should be permitted to fail to implement its plan 
     for lack of resources;
       Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, 
     children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to 
     ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and 
     compulsory primary education of good quality;
       Achieving a 50% per cent improvement in level of adult 
     literacy by 2015, especially for women;
       EliminatIng gender disparities in primary and secondary 
     education by 2005; and
       Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care 
     and education.
       (3) In connection with the Summit and at the suggestion of 
     the U.S., World Bank President James Wolfensohn has pledged 
     that the Bank will increase education lending by 50% and 
     devote the increase to basic education in support of the 
     Dakar Framework--a $1 billion increase or doubling of the 
     Bank's lending for this purpose. This step could galvanize 
     action on the part of the developing countries and other 
     public and private donors to develop a deeper partnership in 
     support of educating the world's youth.
       (4) The G-8 action builds on the President's FY 2001 budget 
     initiative to increase by 50% ($55 million) US assistance to 
     strengthen educational systems in areas of developing 
     countries, targeted to areas where abusive child labor is 
     prevalent. The International Labor Organization has estimated 
     that 250 million children work worldwide. A lack of 
     educational alternatives exacerbates this problem. The 
     Administration initiative would complement direct efforts to 
     reduce abusive child labor such as those by the International 
     Labor Organization by providing support for improvements in 
     educational systems.
       The Okinawa Summit's focus on basic education in developing 
     countries builds on one of the primary achievement of last 
     year's G-7/G-8 Summit, the Cologne Debt Initiative, which 
     will triple the scale of debt relief available to countries 
     undertaking economic reforms and committing to devote the 
     resources freed up by lower foreign debt repayments to the 
     education and health of their people. The President has 
     requested $435 million in appropriations for this years 
     participation in the Cologne Debt Initiative, $810 million 
     including FY 2002 and 2003.
       The intemational community has set a goal of achieving 
     universal access to primary education by 2015; however, half 
     of children in developing countries do not attend school and 
     880 million adults remain illiterate. An estimated 120 
     million children in developing countries do not attend any 
     school at all, and an additional 150 million children drop 
     out of school before completing the four years of schooling 
     needed to develop sustainable literacy and numeracy skills.
       Girls represent over 60% and perhaps as many as two-thirds 
     of the children who are not in school.
       Where 20% of women or less read and write, those women have 
     an average of six children each. By contrast, in countries in 
     which female literacy has reached 80% or more, this figure 
     drops to fewer than three children each.
       Each year of maternal education reduces childhood mortality 
     by eight percent, de-worming medicine.
       In Sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of children (42 million) are out 
     of school. In South Asia, 26% (46 million) are not enrolled 
     in primary education. Of those children who do enroll, 33% 
     never finish in Sub-Saharan Africa, 41% in South Asia, and 
     26% in Latin America.
       The United Nations World Food Program estimates that 300 
     million children in developing countries are chronically 
     hungry. Many of these children are among the nearly 120 
     million who do not attend school. Others are enrolled in 
     school but underperform or

[[Page 16950]]

     drop out due in part to hunger or malnourishment.
       A 1996 World Bank study concluded that when children suffer 
     from hunger or poor nutrition and health, their weakened 
     condition increases their susceptibility to disease, reduces 
     their learning capacity, forces them to end their school 
     careers prematurely, or keeps them out of school altogether.
       An estimated 210 million children suffer from iron 
     deficiency anemia, 85 million are at higher risk for acute 
     respiratory disease and other infections because of vitamin A 
     deficiency, and 60 million live with iodine deficiency 
     disorders. Each condition adversely affects cognitive 
     development, physical development, and motivation, yet each 
     is susceptible to cost effective treatment because the body 
     requires only minute quantities of the nutrients in question.
       By helping to address these problems, school feeding and 
     pre-school child nutrition programs have been shown to have a 
     significant positive impact on rates of student enrollment, 
     attendance and performance.
       The Presidents international school feeding pilot program 
     and the G-8's support for basic education in poor countries 
     are part of the G-8's unprecedented emphasis on development. 
     One of the principal objectives of the Okinawa Summit has 
     been to strengthen the partnership of developed and 
     developing countries, international institutions, the private 
     sector, and civil society in support of global poverty 
     alleviation. The Summit will create a framework for 
     significantly increased bilateral, multilateral, and private 
     sector assistance to poor countries with effective policies 
     in three interrelated areas: infectious diseases, basic 
     education, and information technology. The goal is to 
     mobilize a more comprehensive response by the international 
     community in response to developing countries that exert 
     leadership at home on these issues. No issue is more 
     fundamental to human progress that basic education:
       Primary education is the single most important factor in 
     accounting for diffierenoes in growth rates between East Asia 
     and sub-Saharan Africa because it leads to greater 
     achievement of secondary education, according to the World 
     Bank.
       An education helps people understand health risks, 
     including AIDS, and preventative steps and demand quality 
     treatment.
       Education opportunities are also critical to eliminating 
     abusive child labor. Around the world, tens of millions of 
     young children in their formative years work under hazardous 
     conditions, including toxic and carcinogenic substances in 
     manufacturing, dangerous conditions in mines and on sea 
     fishing platforms, and backbreaking physical labor. Some 
     children labor in bondage, are sold into prostitution, or are 
     indentured to manufacturers, working against debts for wages 
     so low that they will never be repaid.

 TESTIMONY OF GEORGE McGOVERN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE AGENCIES ON FOOD 
              AND AGRICULTURE, ROME, ITALY--JULY 27, 2000

       Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee, 
     I'm pleased to be associated once again with this important 
     committee. During eighteen years as a Senator from South 
     Dakota, I served every day as a member of this Committee: 
     That was one of the deep satisfactions of my life. I also 
     enjoyed my service on the Foreign Relations Committee, the 
     Joint Economic Committee and my Chairmanship of the Select 
     Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. But Agriculture was 
     my bread and butter committee.
       This morning I'm especially pleased to be accompanied by my 
     friend and longtime Senate colleague, Bob Dole. As you know, 
     Bob and I represent opposing parties. But we fonned a 
     bipartisan coalition in the Senate on matters relating to 
     food and agriculture. That coalition reformed the field of 
     nutrition and virtually put an end to hunger in America. We 
     reformed and expanded food stamps for the poor; we improved 
     and expanded the school lunch and breakfast programs; we 
     launched the WIC program for pregnant and nursing low-income 
     women and their infants. In the 1980's and 1990's there has 
     been some slippage in the coverage of these excellent 
     programs and that needs to be corrected. It is embarrassing 
     that in this richest of all nations we still have an 
     estimated 31 million Americans who do not have enough to eat.
       But today I want to describe a new vision for you. It is a 
     vision that would commit the United Nations, including the 
     U.S., to providing a nutritious meal every day for every 
     child in the world.
       There are now 300 million hungry school age children in 
     Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Most of them 
     do not have a school lunch or breakfast. One hundred and 
     thirty million of them do not attend school and are condemned 
     to a life of illiteracy. Most of those not in school are 
     girls because of the favoritism toward boys and 
     discrimination against girls.
       How can we draw these children into the classroom? The most 
     effective attraction anyone has yet devised to bring 
     youngsters into the schools and keep them there is a good 
     school lunch program. The American school lunch program is 
     the envy of the world. At the recent convention in St. Louis 
     of the American School Food Service Association there were 
     visitors from half a dozen foreign countries, including 
     Japan, who were there to find out how they should erect 
     school lunch programs.
       By actual test results, a school lunch program will double 
     school attendance; it will also dramatically improve the 
     learning process and academic achievement. Children can't 
     learn on an empty stomach. Nutrition is the precondition of 
     education.
       Nearly 40 years ago when the late President Kennedy brought 
     me into the White House as Director of Food for Peace--a 
     bipartisan program under P.L. 480 launched in the Eisenhower 
     Administration--I received a telephone call from the Dean of 
     the University of Georgia. He said, ``Mr. McGovern, I'm 
     calling to tell you that the federal school lunch program has 
     done more to stimulate the social and economic development of 
     the south than any other single program. It has,'' he said, 
     ``brought our youngsters into the schools, improved their 
     learning capability, made them stronger, faster and healthier 
     athletes, and more stable and effective citizens.''
       I believe the Georgia Dean was right then, and based on 
     what he told me so many years ago, I know that he would 
     support a daily school lunch for every child across the 
     world.
       If we could achieve the goal of reaching 300 million hungry 
     children with one good meal every day, that would transform 
     life on this planet. Dollar for dollar it is the best 
     investment we can make in creating a healthier, better 
     educated and more effective global citizenry.
       One enormous benefit from such an effort is that it would 
     help mightily in breaking down the barriers to the education 
     of girls. Third World parents will send both girls and boys 
     to school if lunches are provided. In six countries where 
     studies have been conducted, it was revealed that illiterate 
     girls who enter into marriage at 11, 12 or 13 years of age 
     have an average of 6 children. Girls who have been schooled 
     have an average of 2.9 children; they marry later and are 
     better able to nurture and educate their children.
       One significant benefit of an international school lunch 
     program is that it would raise the income of American farmers 
     and those in other countries that have farm surpluses. Every 
     member of this Committee knows that nearly every farm crop is 
     now in surplus. This depresses farm markets and farm income. 
     But if the Secretary of Agriculture--Dan Glickman, a great 
     Secretary--used his authority in the market he can buy 
     everything from California and Florida oranges to Kansas and 
     Indiana wheat, Iowa corn, Montana, Texas and North and South 
     Dakota cattle and hogs, Wisconsin and New York milk and 
     cheese, and North and South Carolina and Georgia peanuts.
       I'm pleased that President Clinton has endorsed this 
     concept. In a White House meeting a month ago he told me: 
     ``George, this is a grand idea. I want us to push it.'' I 
     cite Secretary Glickman and Undersecretary Gus Schumacher as 
     my witnesses.
       The President proposed $300 million for the first year--
     largely in the form of surplus farm commodities. If other 
     U.N. countries will consider that $300 million as a 25% share 
     with the other three-fourths coming from the rest of the 
     world for a total of $1.2 billion, that would not be a bad 
     start.
       I'd like to yield now to Bob Dole for some comments and 
     then perhaps the Committee will wish to question us.
       Governor George Bush has described himself as a 
     ``compassionate conservative.'' The most compassionate 
     conservative I know is Bob Dole. He was terribly wounded in 
     World War II. I suspect partly because of that he has a 
     tender heart for veterans. But beyond this, wherever there 
     are hungry poor people, or undernourished children, or 
     farmers in trouble, Bob Dole is always there.
       The late Martin Luther King, Jr. once preached a sermon on 
     the New Testament verse: ``Be ye wise as serpents and gentle 
     as doves.'' Translated into the modern vernacular, Dr. King 
     said this means: ``Be ye tough-minded and tender-hearted.''
       That's Bob Dole.

   Testimony of U.S. Representative James P. McGovern--July 27, 2000


           THE IMPORTANCE OF A GLOBAL SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM

       I want to thank the Chairman, Senator Lugar, and Ranking 
     Member, Senator Harkin, for the opportunity to appear before 
     your Committee this morning. Your years of service and 
     leadership both on agriculture issues and on foreign aid and 
     humanitarian issues are admired and appreciated by your 
     colleagues and, I might add, the people of Massachusetts. By 
     holding the first hearing to explore the importance of a 
     universal or global school feeding program, once again this 
     Committee demonstrates that leadership.
       In the U.S. House of Representatives, I'm happy to report a 
     bipartisan movement is growing in support of this initiative. 
     Congressman Tony Hall, Congresswomen Jo Ann Emerson and Marcy 
     Kaptur and I recently sent a bipartisan letter to President 
     Clinton signed by 70 Members of Congress, urging him to take 
     leadership within the international community on this 
     proposal. I am attaching a copy of that letter to my 
     testimony and ask that it be part of the Record of this 
     hearing.

[[Page 16951]]

       I would also like to enter into the Record as part of my 
     testimony a letter in support of this initiative by the 
     National Farmers Union. In their letter, NFU states: ``The 
     benefits to those less fortunate than ourselves will be 
     profound, while our own investment will ultimately be 
     returned many times over. The international nutrition 
     assistance program is morally, politically and economically 
     correct for this nation and all others who seek to improve 
     mankind.''
       As Senators George McGovern, Bob Dole and Richard Durbin 
     have just testified, the proposal we are discussing today is 
     very simple: to initiate a multilateral effort that would 
     provide one modest, nutritious meal to the estimated 300 
     million hungry children of the world. I do not wish to repeat 
     their testimony, but there are points I would like to 
     underscore.
       Mr. Chairman, I believe the world moves on simple ideas.
       This simple idea is also a big idea, made more compelling 
     in its potential to move us closer to achieving many of our 
     most important foreign policy goals:
       reducing hunger among children;
       increasing school attendance in developing countries;
       strengthening the education infrastructure in developing 
     countries;
       increasing the number of girls attending school in 
     developing countries;
       reducing child labor; and
       increasing education opportunities for children left 
     orphaned by war, natural disaster and disease, especially 
     HIV/AIDS.
       Over the next ten to twenty years, achieving these goals 
     will significantly affect the overall economic development of 
     the countries that participate in and benefit from this 
     initiative. Children who do not suffer from hunger do better 
     in school--and education is the key to economic prosperity. 
     The better educated a nation's people, the more its 
     population stabilizes or decreases, which, in turn, decreases 
     pressures on food and the environment.
       Our own prosperity is clearly linked to the economic well-
     being of the nations of Asia, Africa, Latin America and 
     Eastern Europe. As their economies grow stronger, so do 
     markets for U.S.-made products. The generation of children we 
     help save today from hunger and who go to school will become 
     the leaders--and the consumers--of their countries tomorrow.
       This simple idea, Mr. Chairman, might prove to be the 
     catalyst to a modern-day Marshall Plan for economic 
     development in developing countries: A coordinated 
     international effort to create self-sustaining school feeding 
     programs and to enhance primary education throughout the 
     developing world. Our farmers, our non-profit development 
     organizations, and our foreign assistance programs could help 
     make this a reality.
       On the other hand, it could also fail.
       It could fail, Mr. Chairman, if we in Congress fail to 
     provide sufficient funding for this initiative; if we fail to 
     provide a long-term commitment of at least ten years to this 
     initiative; and if we fail to integrate this initiative with 
     our other domestic and foreign policy priorities.
       In its July 23rd announcement, the Clinton Administration 
     has made available $300 million in food commodities to 
     initiate a global school feeding program. This is an 
     admirable beginning for a global program estimated at $3 
     billion annually when it is 100 percent in place, with the 
     U.S. share approximately $755 million per year.
       To ensure the success of this initiative, we will need to 
     commit ourselves to long-term, secure funding for this and 
     related programs.
       First, new legislation to authorize this program, and the 
     necessary annual appropriations to carry it out, must at a 
     minimum provide for the total U.S. share. These funds would 
     not only provide for the purchase of agriculture commodities, 
     but also for the processing, packaging and transportation of 
     these commodities; for the increased agency personnel to 
     implement and monitor expanded U.S. education projects in 
     developing countries; and for an increased number of 
     contracts with U.S.-based non-governmental organizations 
     (NGOs) implementing these feeding and education programs in 
     target countries.
       A significant portion of this assistance will go to our 
     farming community for the purchase of their products, and 
     that's as it should be. Quite frankly, Mr. Chairman, I would 
     rather pay our farmers to produce than watch them destroy 
     their crops or pay them not to produce at all.
       Second, the United States must lead and encourage other 
     nations to participate and match our contributions both to 
     the food and the education components of this project.
       Third, we will need to increase funding for development 
     assistance to strengthen and expand education in developing 
     countries. One of the key reasons for supporting school 
     feeding programs is to attract more children to attend 
     school. If that happens, then the schools will need cooking 
     centers, cooking utensils and cooks. Within a year or two, 
     the increase in student population will require more 
     classrooms. Those classrooms will need teachers and supplies. 
     Additional development assistance, delivered primarily 
     through NGOs, will be needed to successfully implement both 
     the food and the education components of this proposal.
       Fourth, we will need to secure greater funding for and 
     recommit ourselves to debt relief and to programs that 
     support and stimulate local agriculture and food production 
     in these countries--two important priorities of our foreign 
     assistance programs. Revenues that developing countries must 
     now use to service their debt could instead be invested in 
     education, health care and development. Successful school 
     feeding programs also rely on the purchase and use of local 
     food products, which are in harmony with local diet and 
     cultural preferences. If the ultimate goal is to make these 
     food and education programs self-sustaining, the promotion of 
     local agricultural production and national investment in 
     education are essential.
       Fifth, our commitment to this effort must be long term. Too 
     often initiatives are announced with great fanfare and then 
     fade away with little notice given. Many development 
     organizations currently active in the field with ``food for 
     education'' programs are skeptical of this proposal. Many 
     governments of developing countries share that skepticism. 
     They have heard it before. They have seen programs announced, 
     begun and then ended as funding abruptly or gradually ended. 
     Our commitment to both the food and education components of 
     this initiative must cover at least a decade.
       Sixth, we do not need to re-invent the wheel to implement 
     this program, or at least the U.S. participation in this 
     multilateral effort. We have a long and successful history of 
     working with our farming community to provide food aid. We 
     have successful partnerships with NGOs already engaged in 
     nutrition, education and community development projects 
     abroad. We also have established relations with international 
     hunger and education agencies, including the Food Aid 
     Convention, the World Food Program, UNICEF and the United 
     Nations Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO).
       Finally, Mr. Chairman, I believe we must also take a good 
     long look at our own needs, and at the same time we 
     contribute to reducing hunger abroad, we must make a 
     commitment to ending hunger here at home. In a time of such 
     prosperity, it is unacceptable that we still have so many 
     hungry people in America. None of our seniors should be on a 
     waiting list to receive Meals-on-Wheels. No child in America 
     should go to bed hungry night after night. No family should 
     go hungry because they don't know where the next meal will 
     come from. No pregnant woman, no nursing mother, no infant 
     nor toddler should go hungry in America. We have the ability 
     to fund existing programs so these needs are met.
       If I may, Mr. Chairman, I would also like to add one more 
     comment. As first proposed, this initiative also had a 
     universal WIC component. The United States is already 
     involved in several nutrition and health programs for mothers 
     and infants. I was very pleased to see in the President's 
     announcement that it contained a pre-school component. I hope 
     that we might also expand our assistance in this area and 
     reach out to our international partners to increase their aid 
     as well. We all know how important those early years of 
     development are in a child's life. I fully support the school 
     feeding and education initiative we are discussing this 
     morning. But if a child has been malnourished or starved 
     during the first years of their life, much of their potential 
     has already been damaged and is in need of repair. Surely the 
     best strategy would include health, immunization and 
     nutrition programs targeted at children three years and 
     younger.
       I believe we can--and we must--eliminate hunger here at 
     home and reduce hunger among children around the world.
       I believe we can--and we must--expand our efforts to bring 
     the children of the world into the classroom.
       I hope you and your Committee will lead the way.
       Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

       

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