Isakson Applauds Senate Passage of Global Food Security Reauthorization Act

Press Release

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., applauded the Senate passage of bipartisan legislation he introduced to extend for another five years the life-saving food security programs managed under the Feed the Future Initiative.

Isakson and U.S. Senator Bob Casey, D-Pa., introduced the bipartisan Global Food Security Reauthorization Act in December 2017. It passed the Senate by voice vote on Tuesday. The senators also introduced the original Global Food Security Act that was signed into law in 2016, and the Senate-passed legislation will help ensure the success of the program beyond 2018.

"By supporting the reauthorization of the Global Food Security Act for another five years, the Senate has made a wise investment in our national security and helps ensure a maximum return on that investment through our foreign assistance," said Isakson, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. "It's an investment in our national security and helps ensure a maximum return of investment on the dollar in foreign assistance. It helps our neighbors abroad and our farmers and researchers in Georgia, and I hope that we can get this legislation quickly passed in the U.S. House."

Specifically, the Global Food Security Reauthorization Act will:

Require the administration to develop a whole-of-government strategy to address global food insecurity and hunger. The strategy would emphasize agricultural development, maternal and child nutrition, community resilience, and civil society engagement.
Ensure the alignment of U.S. assistance with country-owned strategies to enhance agricultural productivity, household income, local economies, and food and nutrition security to work toward the ultimate goal of transitioning countries and communities away from the need for U.S. assistance under this act.
Improve upon existing monitoring and evaluation practices to ensure the effective use of U.S. taxpayer dollars. This includes a requirement for the Government Accountability Office to issue a report in 2019.
Require that the administration report to Congress and to the American people annually about the strategy, its results and the use of foreign assistance funds.
Authorize appropriations through 2023 to carry out international development assistance programs and activities under the strategy.

This five-year reauthorization would ensure that these oversight measures are authorized through 2023. Following Senate passage, it now goes over to the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote.

In August 2017, Isakson and U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga.-08, hosted a roundtable conversation in Tifton, Ga., engaging food security and agriculture industry experts about research, programs and future opportunities to continue improving and implementing the U.S. global food security strategy. It also highlighted the work of Georgia agriculture and researchers in our nation's global food security strategy.

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