[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8546]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION ON HUNGER AND FAMINE

  (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a call of action to make sure 
that the country recognizes that we have got to focus on and talk about 
the more than 20 million people at risk of famine in South Sudan, 
Somalia, Yemen, and northeast Nigeria.
  This is a humanitarian crisis. Starving children and families are 
crying out for our help. Right now, 1.4 million children are acutely 
malnourished and at risk of death. Worldwide, an additional 50 million 
people are severely hungry, surviving day to day on only what they can 
find.
  The United Nations is calling this the largest humanitarian crisis 
that has faced the world since the organization was founded in 1945. 
Mr. Speaker, we can end this crisis if we just find the political will. 
That is why I am joining my colleagues in Congress and humanitarian and 
faith leaders around the country to mark a Global Week of Action on 
Hunger and Famine.
  Earlier this month, we were successful in securing an additional $990 
million for famine relief in the fiscal year 2017 spending bill, thanks 
to a bipartisan coalition of Members and our passionate grassroots 
organizations. But this is not enough. The United Nations needs $4.4 
billion by July to avert catastrophe. We need other countries to step 
up to the plate, and we must absolutely preserve our commitment to 
addressing famine.
  We cannot allow the Trump administration's proposed budget, which 
would decimate food aid, to be enacted.

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