Date: 2011-06-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I rise in opposition to this amendment. I heard a very instructive quote. Even as important as this legislation is. in actuality it appears that my friends on the other side of the aisle simply want to zero out this whole appropriation for the important agricultural work that is done in this Nation. just zero it out. Mr. CHAFFETZS amendment seeks to zero out a very important program. which includes zeroing out Food for Peace. and it apparently ignores the basic purpose and the crisis that were facing dealing with food insecurity in the world. The United Nations World Food Program acknowledges severe acute malnutrition affects an estimated 20 million children under the age of 5 worldwide and is responsible in whole or in part for more than half of all the deaths of children. Malnutrition kills approximately 1 million children each year. or an average of one every 30 seconds. This is not the direction we want for the world or the United States. There are priorities. And I ask my colleagues. what are their priorities? Now. I have a deal for them. Lets make a deal. Lets take the $10 billion that were spending every month in Afghanistan and spread it out on deficit reduction. I will take up that challenge and accept that challenge. In fact. we will be able to put $1 billion or $2 billion every week for a 4week timeframe in deficit reduction if we bring the troops home from Afghanistan. And while we do that. well have the opportunity to answer the question that Im asking to my colleagues: Who will stand by while a child dies. one every 30 seconds around the world? Food for Peace is a program that our farmers have bought into from the perspective of the service and the Good Samaritan that they do by providing the goods of the worlds bread basket. The United States is the worlds bread basket. We have been blessed with the bounty of topography and weather. in spite of the disasters weve now faced. to be able to feed the world. And Food for Peace is that program. Just a few hours ago. I stood on the floor of the House and I mentioned my colleague. the Honorable Mickey Leland. Some of my new friends should read about this unselfish man. I know she didnt ask me to call out her husbands name. but those of us who knew Mickey knew that he loved Congressman Emerson and Congressman Hall. They had a passion for finding out how can we stop the devastation of hunger. So they circled around programs that dealt with it. programs like Food for Peace or the Select Committee on Hunger or a number of other programs around the Agriculture appropriations. not to waste money but to partner between the great agricultural agrarian society of the United States. and its ability to grow food. to also be able to provide for those who cannot. Do I have to say it again? We buy the food from our farmers. Let me make it very clear. In the very places where. as I showed earlier today. the devastation of tornadoes and floods. these people are trying to come back. Some areas did not suffer. Theyre trying to get their goods to market. It cuts here in the very jobs that we are saying that we want to keep. Were cutting jobs. Were throwing people out of work. the work that farmers love. You try to get a farmer off his land or her land. They dont want to go because they love the soil. They love producing food. They love helping people. Yet my friend wants to come and cut this program that creates jobs. buys the food. and sends it to starving. dying children. I dont understand. In the legacy of our friends. some of them you did not know. but if you read about them. you will understand their passion and their heart. Mickey Leland used to bring us to tears because he would leave the devastation of Fifth Ward. Houston. where there was poverty. and hed get on an airplane to deliver food to the dying around the world. He lost his life in the course of delivering food. My final word. Madam Chairman. is to ask my colleagues not to support this amendment and to support Food for Peace and support the underlying message of providing the jobs and a helping hand. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.