Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2022
Floor Speech
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Mrs. KIM of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in support of this bill.
Madam Speaker, today, 50 million people in 45 countries are living on the brink of famine, and more than 350 million people around the world are facing emergency food insecurity. This is a staggering increase from record-breaking levels of hunger last year.
Russia's unprovoked and full-scale invasion of Ukraine, previously known as the breadbasket of Europe, has worsened an already overwhelming global food crisis and is destabilizing fragile states.
Global food prices are expected to increase by 20 percent and could be even higher in developing countries that are highly dependent on imported commodities from Ukraine and Russia.
These shocks are creating shortages and instability that affect the entire world, including our constituents.
First enacted in 2016, and amended in 2018, the Global Food Security Act provides critical authorities to respond to immediate global food needs and to advance longer term agricultural-led economic growth.
I am a cosponsor of today's bipartisan legislation to refine and extend those authorities for another 5 years, through 2028. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Congresswoman McCollum, Congressman Chris Smith, Chairman Meeks, and Ranking Member McCaul, for their leadership in this effort.
In order to prevent the next food crisis, we must increase the resiliency of communities around the world to shocks like natural disasters, supply chain disruptions, and fertilizer shortages. This is why the U.S. is working with partner countries to advance targeted efforts to increase agricultural productivity, invest in food systems and market-based approaches to agricultural-led economic growth, and, ultimately, support communities' abilities to provide for themselves.
These strategic agricultural development activities are a critical investment in preventing future humanitarian emergencies and dependency on foreign aid.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mrs. KIM of California. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bicameral, bipartisan Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2022. I especially want to thank my good friend and colleague, Betty McCollum, for her authorship of this important legislation that will help so many.
Today's vote on global food security will show that we can come together to advance the good. For the Global Food Security Act is a model of cooperation, from the collaboration between Congresswoman McCollum and I on previous iterations, which began back in 2014 when I first introduced it, and the House passed the legislation.
Madam Speaker, like PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, our food security policy is a remarkably effective, relatively low-cost lifesaving, life-enhancing initiative, championed by both Republican and Democrat administrations.
Indeed, we are fortunate that President Bush, beginning in 2002, had the initial foresight to elevate the important role of food security in U.S. foreign policy, especially in Africa, via the Initiative to End Hunger in Africa, or the IEHA, which was funded through development assistance and implemented through USAID. The objective was to help meet the nutritional needs of millions and to elevate self-sufficiency over dependency.
At the same time, the Millennium Challenge Corporation began making substantial investments in ag-led economic growth programs, particularly in Africa. The food price crisis of 2007-2008 accelerated and underscored the need for robust food security policy.
President Obama, in 2009, announced further enhancements to our food security strategy at the G8 summit in Italy, and this became known as the Feed the Future initiative.
Our emphasis on ag-led economic development and food security self- sufficiency continued through the Trump administration and now into the Biden administration.
Madam Speaker, last week a World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization, WFP and FAO, report said the world faces its ``largest food crisis in modern history.''
The report sounds the alarm: 2022, as they put it, is a ``year of unprecedented hunger.''
``As many as 828 million people go to bed hungry every night, the number of those facing acute food insecurity has soared from 135 million to 345 million since 2019. A total of 50 million people in 45 countries are teetering on the edge of famine.''
``Conflict,'' they point out, ``is still the biggest driver of hunger, with 60 percent of the world's hungry living in areas afflicted by war and violence. Events unfolding in Ukraine are further proof of how conflict feeds hunger, forcing people out of their homes, and wiping out their sources of income.''
As we all know, the weakest and most vulnerable are dying, and many, many more are at risk of death while millions more are made susceptible to opportunistic diseases while many children continue to suffer from stunting. Many, however, are rallying to mitigate this suffering.
As my good friend and colleague from Minnesota pointed out, many of the organizations that have done so much for so long are doing even more now to make sure that we get to the point where people are food secure. And, of course, that includes the secular groups and the faith- based groups all working in tandem for this noble goal.
One of the objectives of the Global Food Security Act was to take a whole-of-government approach, led by USAID, in promoting food security. In conducting oversight hearings with regard to its implementation, however, we found that there were several places where a whole-of- agency approach, let alone a whole-of-government approach was lacking.
One area that needed attention was to make sure that our nutrition efforts were firing on all cylinders. While the original bill, law, and subsequent reauthorization placed great emphasis on reducing stunting-- and I have seen it all over Africa, as have Betty and many others. You go to Nigeria, and stunting is endemic to this moment. That can all be alleviated through the right kind of nutritional interventions, including the first 1,000 days of life, from conception to the second birthday, with nutrition that helps both mother and baby.
We have seen pictures of children with distended bellies caused by worms that rob them of needed nutrients. I chaired several hearings on worms, horrible things to see, growing in little kids, causing them to die, but certainly to be very sick in most cases.
USAID, when it came to deworming, often had a more stovepiped approach to it, while this legislation integrates the whole idea of deworming with the food security so that we don't feed the worms, we feed the future, and we feed these wonderful children and all those who are at risk.
We also have put in and continue the integration of water, sanitation, and hygiene, or WASH programming, which is also extraordinarily effective.
This is a great bill. I hope it gets total support of this body. Again, I thank Betty. I look forward to this vote and enactment into law.
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Mrs. KIM of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Madam Speaker, I am proud to support this bipartisan bill to refine and extend statutory authorities needed to respond to the global food crisis and prevent future aid dependency. It updates the policy, definitions, and the strategy requirements of the current law. It also strengthens oversight and accountability and ensures continued focus on core programs that have strong bipartisan support.
At its core, the bill embodies the saying, ``Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.''
These are effective, strategic investments in agriculture and agricultural development to help ensure that communities and families are able to provide for themselves.
Madam Speaker, I urge support for this bill, and I hope that our Senate colleagues will take it up promptly.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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