[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12177-12178]
[From the U.S. 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.
  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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