[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1349 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1349
Recognizing the continued success of the Food for Peace Act.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 10, 2024
Mr. Costa (for himself, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mrs. Cherfilus-
McCormick, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mrs. Radewagen, Ms. Kamlager-Dove,
Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer, Ms. Adams, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr.
McCaul, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Budzinski, Ms. Brown, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms.
Crockett, Mr. Sorensen, Mr. Bera, Ms. Salazar, Mr. Molinaro, Mr.
Valadao, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Ms. Tokuda, Mr.
LaTurner, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Titus, Mrs. Hayes,
Mr. Schneider, Mr. Amo, Ms. DeLauro, and Mr. Fitzpatrick) 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 2,400,000,000 people globally, disproportionately more women and people
living in rural areas, did not have access to enough nutritious food
year-round in 2022;
Whereas an estimated 783,000,000 people suffered from hunger in 2022,
122,000,000 more than in 2019;
Whereas, in 2022, 149,000,000 children under the age of 5 were estimated to be
stunted, i.e., too short for their age, and 45,000,000 estimated to be
wasted, i.e., too thin for their height;
Whereas the 2023 Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates notes that despite
significant progress in reducing stunting in children globally, an
estimated 128,500,000 children will be stunted in 2030 if current trends
continue;
Whereas, according to UNICEF, 1 in 4 children, or 181,000,000 children under the
age of 5, lives in severe child food poverty, meaning that they eat at
most 2 of 8 food groups needed for healthy development;
Whereas undernutrition contributes to approximately 45 percent of deaths of
children under 5 years old worldwide;
Whereas significant numbers of vulnerable and chronically food-insecure people
reside in conflict-affected areas, including Yemen, Sudan, Nigeria,
Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, and Haiti, and people in these areas
were among the largest recipients of Food for Peace aid in 2022;
Whereas 9 years of conflict has devastated Yemen, resulting in catastrophic
losses, displacement of millions of people, and one of the world's
largest food insecurity crises with half of all children under the age
of 5 stunted or chronically malnourished;
Whereas the United Nations estimates that 18,200,000 Yemenis, the majority of
the country's population and 10,000,000 of them children, depend on and
are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance;
Whereas nearly 5,000,000 children were forcibly displaced in Sudan by the end of
2023, representing the largest internal displacement crisis for children
in the world;
Whereas over half of the population in Sudan, including 3 in 4 children, are
facing crisis levels of food insecurity, and 8,500,000 are facing
emergency levels of food insecurity, with 14 areas at risk of famine;
Whereas almost 32,000,000 people in Nigeria are projected to face acute food
insecurity in the lean season this year;
Whereas global humanitarian funding shortfalls risk increased hunger and
malnutrition in these and other emergency settings;
Whereas longstanding 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;
Whereas all food aid modalities, including United States commodities and
assistance to help communities be self-sufficient, are critical to Food
for Peace's integrity and longevity; and
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, including women and children who are
disproportionately affected by food shortages and political instability:
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 climate extremes;
(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 United States leadership worldwide
through the investment of United States foreign aid and
humanitarian assistance and is therefore a key
component of United States foreign policy;
(2) commends the Food for Peace program for reaching
53,000,000 people with emergency food assistance in 21
countries and nearly 3,000,000 people with resilience-building
development assistance in fiscal year 2022;
(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 United States products by reducing poverty,
increasing production, and creating broadly shared
wealth in developing countries;
(B) humanitarian assistance helps countries and
communities recover from serious disasters, crises, and
emergencies, and puts them back on the road to
prosperity; and
(C) Food for Peace nonemergency programs are a
critical part of this effort, as studies show that for
every $1 invested in strengthening communities'
resilience saves $7 in more expensive humanitarian aid;
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 resilience-
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 United States 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
United States 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 protect all food aid modalities and
encourage alignment of food assistance with other forms
of humanitarian and development aid to best help those
in need.
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