| February 4, 2005
GLOBAL FOOD AID SHORTAGE THREATENS
THE LIVES OF THE POOR:
Urge President Bush to ensure more funding for U.S.
food aid programs
WHY THIS ISSUE IS
IMPORTANT: Long before the December 26 tsunami
devastated communities throughout South and Southeastern
Asia, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and other agencies
delivering nutritional services to the poor worldwide
expressed their increasing concern that U.S.-sponsored
global food assistance programs were in jeopardy.
Funding for food aid programs has not kept up with
demands caused by unanticipated natural disasters
and wars such as a locust plague in West Africa, flooding
in Bangladesh and the conflict in the Darfur region
of Sudan. Now the tsunami has left millions homeless
and has only exacerbated the need for more U.S. food
aid.
Click
here to take action now! Send President Bush a
message today urging him to increase food aid funding.
Then, click
here to find out if your Senators and Representative
support more food aid to address global emergencies
and thank them for their support by sending a message
from our website http://capwiz.com/catholicrelief/home/.
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:
In a recent letter to President Bush, Senators Pat
Roberts (R-KS) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) along with 41
of their colleagues expressed their support for increased
funding for food aid programs to help the tsunami
victims in South Asia as well as to address the food
aid shortfall generated by pre-existing emergency
assistance needs in Africa and elsewhere in the world.
In the House, a similar letter organized by Representatives
Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO, 8th) and Ike Skelton (D-MO,
4th) collected 94 signatures. Previous letters sent
to the Administration by both the Senate and House
encouraged an immediate release of more resources
from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT), a
food reserve intended for unanticipated food shortages
in poor countries.
CRS applauds those Senators
and Representatives (see a detailed list below) for
their leadership to address the urgent need for more
food aid. We now urge President Bush to ensure that
adequate funding for food aid is included in his FY
2006 budget request, the emergency supplemental appropriations
bill and that resources from the BEHT are immediately
released to meet emergency needs worldwide.
TAKE ACTION NOW! Click
here to contact President Bush and encourage him to
act on the letters he has received from Congress regarding
the food aid crisis. Urge him to ensure that:
-
More food aid is released from
the BEHT to address immediate emergency food needs
worldwide.
-
The FY2006 budget request he will
submit to Congress includes robust funding for
food aid.
-
The emergency supplemental appropriations
bill he submits to Congress includes:
- $650 million to meet the food aid shortfall
for non-Tsunami needs worldwide.
- $300 million to replenish the Bill Emerson
Humanitarian Trust.
- $70 million to address food aid needs in countries
affected by the tsunami.
Please also contact your
Senators and Representatives listed here and
thank them for their support of increased food aid.
To contact your elected officials or to send a message
today, visit our website www.crs.org/actioncenter.cfm,
or contact Tina Rodousakis (800) 235-2772 x 7462.
Catholic Relief Services'
advocacy efforts flow from the principles of Catholic
Social Teaching, especially the call to protect
the dignity of people, uphold rights and responsibilities,
safeguard the common good and to act in solidarity
with people in poverty.
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