[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5] [Senate] [Pages 6350-6351] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]WORLD FOOD CRISIS Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I fear we are on the brink of a major humanitarian crisis around the world. Food prices are rising beyond the reach of people in countries as disparate and far apart as Haiti, Egypt, and Thailand. Food prices and their increase have led to demonstrations, sometimes even violent demonstrations in many parts of the world, creating real threats to the stability of those countries. As many as 33 countries face a growing risk of hunger and social unrest that is caused when people are hungry and frightened about their future. Quite simply, I am concerned that we are steps away from a world food crisis, a crisis that could have a dramatic impact on some of the world's poorest nations. The other week, World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned: For countries where food comprises about half to three- quarters of consumption, there is no margin for survival. In the United States, the poorest 20 percent, the poorest one-fifth of our population, spends about 16 percent of their income on food. It is a lot compared to many of us. But in the poorest nations, those families spend more than half of what they earn to feed themselves. In Nigeria, families spend an average of 73 percent of the money they earn on food; in Vietnam, 65 percent. Even as food prices soar, humanitarian aid has been forced to scale back. In Cambodia, the World Food Program, which is largely sustained and supported by the United States, has suspended a feeding program for 500,000 schoolchildren because of food shortages. Rising food prices mean hunger, and with hunger and no real hope of ending it come panic, desperation, and, ultimately civil unrest. At any given time, chronic hunger threatens the welfare of an estimated 850 million people in the world. We talk a lot about the forces of extremists and terrorists and fundamentalists, how destabilizing they are with their acts of violence in countries where they kill innocent people. But I have to say, if this world food crisis continues unabated, the instability of terrorism may pale in comparison. In Thailand, local farmers are reporting theft of their rice crops, as supplies from other countries are going down and prices are going up dramatically. Protests have turned violent in many places. In Yemen, food prices have doubled in recent months. Protests and riots there left at least 12 people dead. Protests in Cameroon earlier this year killed more than two dozen people and led to desperate attempts by the Government to raise wages and reduce customs duties on food products. Rioters in Burkina Faso looted stores and burned Government buildings. The Prime Minister of Haiti was forced to resign following days of deadly violence over rising food prices. Last weekend, a U.N. peacekeeper transporting food for his unit was dragged from his vehicle and shot execution style in the Haitian capital by protesters. The risk of unrest is even more troubling in areas such as Darfur, where the World Food Program is feeding up to 3 million people a day. This is a humanitarian time bomb which threatens to explode at any moment. I have seen food aid programs operate overseas, and they can make a big difference. I saw one program when I traveled to a slum in Nairobi, Kenya. It is a slum of lean-to homes where more than 600,000 people live. It is called Kibera. If you saw the movie ``The Constant Gardener,'' much of it was filmed in the slum of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. Some people think up to 1 million people live there from time to time, some 600,000. Nobody even knows. When you visit there, there are people as far as the eye can see-- kids playing in the streets, in the filth, in railway yards, everywhere. But when I visited there, there was a scene that was almost hard to believe. It was near the holiday season. The local schools were on vacation, but they asked the students to come back to greet this Senator who was coming from America. About 40 or 50 children put on their uniforms, left their vacation time at home, to come back to school. It wasn't to see me; believe me. It was because they promised them that if they would come back to school that day, they would feed them. The feeding program in that little school is part of what is known as the McGovern-Dole school feeding program, named after two former great Senators who served from South Dakota and Kansas. I saw the way that food program worked. There was a noon lunch which consisted of a pot of boiling cereal. It looked a lot like oatmeal or some form of porridge. They ladled it into plastic cups. The kids stood in line like they were at Baskin Robbins in Springfield, IL, hoping to get a double-dip ice cream cone. They were so excited to get something to eat. It was the only meal they were going to have that day. They were willing to put up with this politician, wear their uniforms, come in from vacation, on the chance they could fill that cup. They stood there and waited, just to get one meal. The World Food Program has issued an extraordinary emergency appeal because food programs like that one in Kenya may not last. There is a shortfall of some $500 million in food programs across the world. Considering the high cost of food and fuel prices to transport it, the shortfall is no surprise. But it requires immediate action. The U.S. contribution to the World Food Program is important because it doesn't just feed hungry kids. It tells the world who we are. Right now there are people who are not our friends, who are in fact our enemies, who are advertising against the United States. On television sets and other places around the world, there is an image of America that is not even close to the truth. They suggest that we are warmongers and selfish people. We are not. We have to prove to the world again that our values count, and we will stand behind them. This global food crisis is the kind of challenge that gives us our opportunity. It also is important to quell the growing security concerns attached with a global food crisis. Senators John Kerry and Joe Biden joined me today in sending a letter to President Bush urging him to support additional funding for food aid in the fiscal year 2008 supplemental appropriations bill. The President is going to come to us shortly and ask for $108 billion to continue the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan. He will tell us this is an emergency. The world food crisis is also an emergency. It is one we should deal with. If we are really focused on stability and peace in Iraq, we should not ignore the fact that the shortages of food and hunger around the world can lead to instability in many other places. As a first step, the Department of Agriculture has committed to providing $200 million in emergency food assistance through the Bill Emerson humanitarian trust. Bill Emerson, former Republican Congressman from the Boothill area of Missouri, was a fine fellow. I got to know him when I served in the House. He really cared [[Page 6351]] about children and feeding people. So $200 million in his name is certainly money well spent. Moving forward, though, we have to understand that is not enough. We are going to need to add more to make sure this crisis doesn't occur. We can share our bountiful harvest. We can help the poorest people in the world. We can demonstrate in that way the finest elements of the American spirit. We recently had a hearing, in fact yesterday, before the Senate Appropriations Committee, where Jim Nussle, who is chairman of the Office of Management and Budget, spoke. Jim comes from the State of Iowa. He is a former Congressman, former chairman of the House Budget Committee. I asked him about this. I asked him if the administration would consider, as part of their supplemental appropriations bill, including more money for this global food crisis. I am afraid Mr. Nussle was adamant in saying they would not. They would not consider adding any money to the $108 billion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that is all the President has asked for. I hope Mr. Nussle will reconsider. I certainly hope the President will reconsider. What is at issue is not a political fight. What is at issue is a fight for food so some of the poorest people on Earth can survive. The United States will have a chance to demonstrate to the world our values and what we stand for. I hope we can do that by adding to this supplemental funding bill enough money to provide assistance to people around the world who face deprivation and starvation because of the current global food crisis. ____________________