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December 10, 2004 IMMEDIATE EMERGENCY FOOD AID NEEDED TO ADDRESS GLOBAL CRISES WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and other agencies delivering nutritional services to the poor worldwide are increasingly concerned that U.S.-sponsored global food assistance programs are in jeopardy. While the U.S. has decreased its food aid funding, emergencies in the Darfur region of Sudan, flooding in Bangladesh, and the locust plague in West Africa have dramatically increased the need for food. Experts predict that an additional $832 million will be needed to meet global emergency food needs and sustain ongoing programs that use food as a tool for long-term development. CRS has already been notified that some of our food assistance programs have been cut back or even canceled. Click here to take action now by entering your zip code in the TAKE ACTION box! Click here for other ways to get involved. As faithful citizens we are called to help ensure that the U.S. government uses its significant wealth and influence to improve the lives of the poor worldwide, especially to meet basic needs such as food. The Catholic Churchs social teaching is rooted in the fundamental dignity of every human life. As the U.S. Catholic Bishops recently stated in For I was Hungry and You Gave Me Food, the right to food is a basic right because it is required to sustain life and to live a truly human existence. BACKGROUND: Every fiscal year, the U.S. government buys commodities such as wheat, corn, and rice that are used for a variety of food assistance programs overseas to alleviate hunger and poverty. One of the governments largest food aid initiatives is the Title II Food for Peace program, which is mostly intended for non-emergency activities that address chronic hunger. For example, CRS uses Title II food aid food to support better agriculture infrastructure, generate income for the poor, and supplement the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients. As part of the recently passed omnibus appropriations bill, Congress provided $1.183 billion to fund Title II food aid in FY 2005, which ends on September 30, 2005. This amount is slightly less than the amount appropriated last year and will not be sufficient to meet the emergency needs in the world and at the same time sustain ongoing development programs. The U.S. government recently released some 20 percent of food resources stockpiled in the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT) for Sudan. The BEHT is a food reserve administered by the Secretary of Agriculture and intended for use during unexpected food crises in poor countries. While CRS and our coalition partners appreciate this action, it is only a first step in addressing global food needs. We are therefore asking the Bush Administration to immediately release significantly more resources from the BEHT. At the same time, we are asking that Congress and the Administration support supplemental appropriations to meet emergency food needs this fiscal year as well as an increase in Title II food aid funding in FY 2006.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Please contact President Bush and the Office of the Agriculture Secretary and urge them to immediately release additional commodities and resources from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.
Please also contact your members of Congress. Click here to find out if your member is an important decisionmaker.
Urge your members to:
To call
your your elected officials click here for
their contact information, or
call Tina Rodousakis, 1-800-235-2772 x 7462 for more
information. For further
information contact: KEY ELECTED OFFICIALS
To
email visit www.crs.org/actioncenter.cfm
President
George W. Bush Office
of the Secretary of Agriculture
Secr.
of State Designate Condoleezza Rice
Phone:
202-456-1111 Phone:
202-720-3631
Phone: 202-456-1414
(White House)
Sen.
Bill Frist (R-TN) Sen.
Harry Reid (D-NV)
Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL, 14th) Senate
Majority Leader
Senate Minority Leader Speaker
of the House of Representatives Phone:
(202)
224-3344 Phone:
(202) 224-3542 Phone:
(202) 225-2976 Rep.
Tom DeLay (R-TX, 22nd) Rep.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA, 8th) Rep.
Steny Hoyer (D-MD, 5th) House
Majority Leader
House Minority Leader
House Minority Whip Phone:
(202) 225-5951 Phone:
(202) 225-4965
Phone: (202) 225-4131 SENATE
Sen.
Ted Stevens (R-AK) Sen.
Robert Byrd (D-WV) Sen.
Robert Bennett (R-UT), Chair Chair,
Appropriations Committee Ranking
Member, Appropriations Committee Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Phone:
(202) 224-3004
Phone: (202) 224-3954 Phone:
(202) 224-5444 Sen.
Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
Sen.
Arlen Specter (R-PA) Sen.
Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Ranking
Member, Ag Approps Subcom. Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom.
Agriculture Appropriations Subcom. Phone:
(202) 224-5653
Phone: (202) 224-4254
Phone:
(202)
224-5721
Sen.
Conrad Burns (R-MT) Sen.
Larry Craig (R-ID)
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom.
Agriculture Appropriations Subcom. Phone:
(202) 224-2644
Phone: (202) 224-2752 Phone:
(202)
224-6521 Sen.
Byron Dorgan (D-ND) Sen.
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Sen.
Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom.
Agriculture Appropriations Subcom. Phone:
(202) 224-2551
Phone: (202) 224-3841 Phone:
(202) 224-2152 Sen.
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Sen.
Mitch McConnell (R-KY),
Majority Whip Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Chair,
Foreign Operations Approps. Subcom.
Phone:
(202) 224-5842
Phone: (202) 224-5824 Phone:
(202)
224-2541
Sen.
Patrick Leahy (D-VT),
Ranking Member Sen.
Thad Cochran, (R-MS) Sen.
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Foreign
Ops. Approps. Subcom. Chair,
Agriculture Committee Ranking
Member, Agriculture Committee Phone:
(202) 224-4242 Phone:
(202) 224-5054
Phone: (202) 224-3254 Sen.
Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Sen.
Joseph Biden (D-DE) Chair,
Foreign Relations Committee
Ranking Member, Foreign Relations Committee
Phone:
(202) 224-4814 Phone:
(202) 224-5042 HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rep.
Henry Hyde (R-IL, 6th) Rep.
Tom Lantos (D-CA, 12th)
Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-FL, 10th)
Chair,
International Relations Committee Ranking
Member, International Relations Chair,
Appropriations Committee Phone:
(202) 225-4561 Phone:
202-225-3531 Phone:
(202)
225-5961 Rep.
David Obey, (D-WI, 7th) Rep.
Henry Bonilla (R-TX, 23rd)
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, (D-OH, 9th) Ranking
Member, Approps. Committee Chair,
Agriculture Appropriations Subcom.
Ranking Member, Ag Approps. Subcom. Phone:
(202) 225-3365 Phone:
(202) 225-4511
Phone: (202)
225-4146 Rep.
James Walsh (R-NY, 25th)
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA, 1st) Rep.
Tom Latham (R-IA, 4th)
Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Phone:
(202) 225-3701 Phone:
(202) 225-5831
Phone:
(202) 225-5476 Rep.
Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO, 8th) Rep.
Virgil Goode (R-VA, 5th) Rep.
Ray LaHood (R-IL, 18th) Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom.
Agriculture Appropriations Subcom. Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Phone:
(202) 225-4404 Phone:
(202) 225-4711
Phone: (202) 225-6201 Rep.
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT, 3rd) Rep.
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY, 22nd) Rep.
Sam Farr (D-CA, 17th)
Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom. Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom.
Agriculture Appropriations Subcom. Phone:
(202) 225-3661 Phone:
(202) 225-6335 Phone:
(202) 225-2861 Rep.
F. Allen Boyd (D-FL, 2nd)
Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ, 8th)
Agriculture
Appropriations Subcom.
Chair,
Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcom. Phone:
(202) 225-5235 Phone:
202-225-2542
Rep.
Nita Lowey (D-NY, 18th) Rep.
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA, 6th) Rep.
Charles Stenholm (D-TX, 17th)/TBD Ranking
Member Chair,
Agriculture Committee Ranking
Member, Agriculture Committee
Foreign Operations Approps. Subcom. Phone:
(202)
225-5431 Phone:
(202)
225-6605
Phone:
(202)
225-6506
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