Title: Recognizing the continued success of the Food for Peace Act.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution recognizes Food for Peace as a critical component of global food security efforts and calls for the prioritization of funding for Food for Peace programs.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 742 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 742

      Recognizing the continued success of the Food for Peace Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 5, 2019

    Mr. Costa (for himself, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. 
   Fortenberry, Ms. Fudge, and Mr. Marshall) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 
    in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
      Recognizing the continued success of the Food for Peace Act.

Whereas, on July 10, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the 
        Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act which created the 
        Office of Food for Peace;
Whereas the purpose of the Office of Food for Peace is to promote democratic 
        values abroad, advance freedom and peace, and help to alleviate 
        humanitarian crises throughout the world;
Whereas the 2018 Global Nutrition Report reveals that 150,800,000 children under 
        5 years old worldwide are stunted as a result of malnutrition, 
        50,500,000 are severely malnourished, and 20,000,000 babies a year are 
        born underweight;
Whereas 16,400,000 children under 5 years old suffer from severe acute 
        malnutrition (SAM) and require life-changing, ready-to-use therapeutic 
        foods (RUTF), and Food for Peace is a major contributor to the United 
        Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the purchase of RUTF, helping 
        UNICEF reach more than 4,100,000 children with treatment for SAM in 
        2018, and supporting RUTF needs in 31 countries around the world;
Whereas undernutrition contributes to approximately 45 percent of deaths of 
        children under 5 years old worldwide;
Whereas large numbers of vulnerable and chronically food-insecure people reside 
        in war-torn areas including Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, and 
        Yemen;
Whereas the United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that 6,600,000 people have 
        been internally displaced in Syria, including 2,500,000 children, and 
        11,700,000 people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance which 
        includes 6,500,000 food-insecure people;
Whereas the United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that 4,800,000 people have 
        been displaced by the ongoing conflict in Yemen, and more than 
        24,000,000 Yemenis are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, 
        including over 20,000,000 in need of food;
Whereas the United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that 15,000,000 Yemenis are 
        on the brink of starvation and 400,000 children are suffering from 
        extreme malnutrition;
Whereas up to 7,100,000 people in South Sudan require humanitarian assistance, 
        nearly all of whom are facing acute food insecurity and need lifesaving 
        aid provided by the United States Agency for International Development 
        (USAID) and other international donors;
Whereas approximately 2,100,000 people in Somalia are in need of emergency food 
        assistance due to high levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or higher) 
        with the most affected areas including Awdal, Bari, Galgaduud, and 
        Hiiraan;
Whereas Nigeria, with the largest economy in Africa, still experiences massive 
        income inequality, and almost half its population, more than 91,000,000 
        people, live in extreme poverty, and 3,000,000 people are severely food-
        insecure;
Whereas nearly half of children under 5 years old in Guatemala are stunted due 
        to malnutrition, and in some areas the percentage is much higher, making 
        it the highest in the region;
Whereas Latin America and the Caribbean are most vulnerable to a range of 
        natural hazards including droughts, earthquakes, forest fires, floods, 
        hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions which require robust humanitarian 
        assistance, including food aid;
Whereas hundreds of thousands of people who have fled Venezuela are now facing 
        serious food shortages and other hardships, which risk both lives and 
        the stability of the region;
Whereas women and children are disproportionately affected by food shortages and 
        political instability;
Whereas the assistance provided by Food for Peace programs helps to address the 
        root causes of mass migration of populations from poverty-stricken and 
        food-insecure regions;
Whereas long-standing cooperation between Food for Peace and the United Nations 
        World Food Programme has led to millions of people receiving critical 
        food aid around the world; and
Whereas the largest recipients of Food for Peace aid in 2018 were the conflict-
        torn regions of Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, South Sudan, and Syria, all of 
        which have large populations of refugees and other displaced persons 
        whose lives have been irrevocably shattered by war and its aftermath: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) reaffirms that--
                    (A) Food for Peace is an essential component of 
                global food security efforts;
                    (B) Food for Peace is an expression of the 
                generosity and goodwill of the people of the United 
                States toward the world's most vulnerable populations;
                    (C) food insecurity stems from an array of factors, 
                including military conflict, civil strife, economic 
                instability, underdeveloped food production and market 
                inclusion, corruption, and natural disasters;
                    (D) Food for Peace helps to alleviate humanitarian 
                needs stemming from conflict and natural disasters, 
                helps to prevent the spread of disease and malnutrition 
                among pregnant women and children under 5 years old, 
                and can help to counteract cycles of violence; and
                    (E) Food for Peace contributes to the spread and 
                strengthening of American leadership worldwide through 
                the investment of United States foreign aid and 
                humanitarian assistance and is therefore a key 
                component of American foreign policy;
            (2) commends the Food for Peace program for helping 
        approximately 76,000,000 people in 59 countries in fiscal year 
        2018, including 68,000,000 people who received $3,200,000,000 
        in lifesaving emergency assistance and 8,000,000 people who 
        received $430,000,000 in resilience-building development 
        assistance;
            (3) commends Food for Peace for supporting vulnerable 
        communities around the world in coping with crises as they make 
        their journeys to self-reliance;
            (4) recognizes that--
                    (A) United States foreign assistance helps create 
                markets for American products by reducing poverty, 
                increasing production, and creating broadly shared 
                wealth in developing countries; and
                    (B) humanitarian assistance helps countries and 
                communities recover from serious disasters, crises, and 
                emergencies, and puts them back on the road to 
                prosperity; and
            (5) calls for continued prioritization of funding for Food 
        for Peace programs--
                    (A) to continue the mission of fighting global food 
                insecurity;
                    (B) to help to reduce the number of mothers who 
                lack the adequate prenatal nutrition and the healthy 
                foods to care for their children once they are born;
                    (C) to help to reduce the number of infants and 
                children facing the lifelong effects of malnutrition;
                    (D) to reduce the number of infants and children 
                dying from malnutrition-related causes around the 
                globe;
                    (E) to continue to support nonemergency resiliency-
                building efforts to address the root causes of hunger 
                and reduce the need for future emergency assistance;
                    (F) to maximize the economic and intellectual 
                potential of local communities and global markets;
                    (G) to support American values;
                    (H) to provide for the basic human needs of food 
                and nutrition and for critical development activities;
                    (I) to affirm the continued commitment of the 
                American people and their Government to helping some of 
                the most vulnerable populations in the world at their 
                times of greatest need;
                    (J) to promote democratic values worldwide; and
                    (K) to continue to support these principles as Food 
                for Peace enters a new era as part of the proposed 
                Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, and to encourage 
                alignment of food assistance with other forms of 
                disaster relief and humanitarian aid to best help those 
                in need.
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