Harkin Urges President Bush to Meet Emergency Food Aid Needs
HARKIN URGES PRESIDENT BUSH TO MEET EMERGENCY FOOD AID NEEDS
- Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, was joined today by Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) and 41 other senators in urging President Bush to meet emergency food aid needs that exist throughout the world, including in those areas devastated by the tsunamis. The bipartisan group sent a letter to the president requesting that part of the supplemental appropriations bill, expected to come before Congress in the coming weeks, includes enough funding to meet emergency food aid needs caused by the tsunami as well as other preexisting emergency food aid needs around the world. The letter also urges a replenishing of the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust that was utilized late last year to partially address some of these emergency food aid needs.
"If there is one thing America has in abundance it is food," Harkin said. "If there is one thing people in places like Indonesia, Darfur and Ethiopia need it is food. We have the ability now to meet our food aid commitments and ensure that victims of the tsunami, as well as in other parts of the world, do not have to worry about whether they will have enough food for the day."
Ensuring that America is meeting its food aid commitments goes beyond the immediate need of those around the world for food assistance. It also makes available food assistance that supports food-for-work and food-for-education programs to help affected people recover from the catastrophe beyond the time when there is an immediate threat of starvation.
"Food aid, particularly in the tsunami disaster area, will be necessary for months down the road, not just in these weeks immediately following the disaster," Harkin said. "In South Asia, as well as in other parts of the world, food aid is an important tool to help societies rebuild and get back on their feet. Replenishing our food aid accounts and meeting our commitments ensures this aid will be available in the future."
Though no specific amount is requested in the letter, estimates are that it will take at least $1 billion to meet the need. This includes meeting preexisting needs, needs as a result of the tsunamis, and replenishing the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust. However, the senators note that efforts to meet emergency needs should not come at the expense of existing programs or by reducing aid to people in other developing countries. "Such a move," the senators wrote, "would be tantamount to feeding one group with the seed corn that another group was supposed to sow for crops the following year."
Senator Harkin has made this one of his top priorities when Congress considers the supplemental appropriations request in the coming weeks. Harkin also raised the issue with secretary of agriculture-designate Governor Mike Johanns during the governor's confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee.
A copy of the letter is attached.
# # #
January 14, 2005
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
The December 26 tsunami which struck several countries in the Indian Ocean Basin is now known to have killed over 150,000 people, with hundreds of thousands or even millions of others injured or left homeless by the catastrophe. Many of these people have lost all their possessions, and find themselves in dire need of essentials such as food, clean water, medical attention, and shelter. Over the past several decades, the U.S. food aid programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have demonstrated their capacity to help people in need, but their fiscal 2005 funding will have to be increased for them to do the job properly.
Even before the massive tsunami struck, other unanticipated natural disasters and wars had strained these agencies= ability to provide emergency food aid while still maintaining long-term commitments to development assistance projects. According to one estimate provided to the Senate Agriculture Committee by US-AID officials, customary food aid contributions by the United States and other donor countries were expected to fall $1.2 billion short of emergency needs worldwide as of December 9, 2004.
As part of the supplemental appropriations bill you are planning to submit within the next several weeks to cover the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, we urge you to include a request for food aid programs to help the tsunami victims in South Asia as well as to address the food aid shortfall generated by pre-existing emergency assistance needs in Africa and elsewhere in the world. A portion of that money should be used to reimburse recent withdrawals from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.
It is crucial that you take these steps and not attempt to meet the emergency needs by further cutting existing programs. We believe that previous cuts made to developmental food aid programs in this fiscal year should be restored. It would not be appropriate to help the people of South Asia by reducing aid to people in other developing countries. Such a move would be tantamount to feeding one group with the seed corn that another group was supposed to sow for crops the following year. We urge you to consider carefully this situation and take whatever actions are necessary to ensure our ability to meet all of our food aid commitments.
Sincerely,
Senators Harkin, Roberts, Johnson, Conrad, Salazar, Mikulski, Coleman, Leahy, Stabenow, Bond, Baucus,
Dayton, Kohl, Lincoln, Lugar, Landrieu, Bingaman, Dodd, Dorgan, Murray, Akaka, Nelson (FL), Lautenberg, Hagel, Talent, Lieberman, Bayh, Burns, Obama, Feingold, Nelson (NE), Craig, Durbin, Crapo, Snowe, Wyden, Feinstein, Dole, Pryor, Grassley, Chafee, Corzine, DeWine
Copies to:
Secretary Veneman, Administrator Natsios, Under Secretary Grossman
http://harkin.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=230668