Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Lugar, and Mr. Smith):

S. 1120. A bill to reduce hunger in the United States by half by 2010, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, nearly a decade ago, at the 1996 World Food Summit, the United States joined 185 other countries in a commitment to cut the number of undernourished people in the world in half by 2015. In 2000, as part of the Healthy People 2010 initiative, the U.S. government set another, more ambitious goal--to cut U.S. food insecurity in half from the 1995 level by 2010.

These are laudable and achievable goals. But our actions as a Nation have not kept pace with our words. Hunger and food insecurity have increased in this country each year since 1999. According to Household Food Security in the United States, 2003, the most recent report on hunger and food insecurity in the U.S. from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 36.3 million people--including nearly 13.3 million children--lived in households that experienced hunger or the risk of hunger in 2003. This represents more than one in ten households in the United States (11.2 percent) and is an increase of 1.4 million, from 34.9 million in 2002.

In his remarks to delegates at the first World Food Congress in 1963, President John F. Kennedy said, ``We have the means, we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the earth in our lifetime. We only need the will.''

Forty-two years later, we still need the will, especially the political will.

In June 2004, the National Anti-Hunger Organization (NAHO), which is comprised of the 13 national organizations that are working to end widespread hunger in our country, released A Blueprint to End Hunger. It is a roadmap setting forth a strategy for government, schools and community organizations, nonprofit groups, businesses, and individuals to solve the problem of hunger. The report recommends that Federal food programs continue as the centerpiece of our strategy to end hunger. It also urges us, the Federal Government, to invest in and strengthen the national nutrition safety net and increase outreach and awareness of the importance of preventing hunger and improving nutrition.

We know that Federal nutrition programs work. WIC, food stamps, the school breakfast and lunch programs, and other federal nutrition programs are reaching record numbers of Americans today, and making their lives better. But we're not reaching enough people. There are still too many parents in this country who skip meals because there is not enough money in the family food budget for them and their children to eat every night. There are still too many babies and toddlers in America who are not getting the nutrition their minds and bodies need to develop to their fullest potential. There are too many seniors, and children, who go to bed hungry. In the richest Nation in the history of the world, that's unacceptable.

Today, in an effort to stir the political will and rekindle our commitment to achieve the goal of ending hunger, I am introducing the Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2005 with Senators Smith, Lugar, and Lincoln. This bill builds on the recommendations made by NAHO and is designed to put our nation back on track toward the goal of cutting domestic food insecurity and hunger in half by 2010. It contains a sense of the Congress reaffirming our commitment to the 2010 goal and establishing a new goal: the elimination of hunger in the United States by 2015. This sense of Congress also urges the preservation of the entitlement nature of food programs and the protection of federal nutrition programs from funding cuts that reduce benefit levels or the number of eligible participants.

The Hunger-Free Communities Act also increases the resources available to local groups across the country working to eliminate hunger in their communities. Each day, thousands of community-based groups and millions of volunteers work on the front lines of the battle against hunger. This bill establishes an anti-hunger grant program, the first of its kind, with an emphasis on assessing hunger in individual communities and promoting cooperation and collaboration among local anti-hunger groups. The grant program recognizes the vital role that community-based organizations already play in the fight against hunger and represents Congress' commitment to the public/private partnership necessary to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, food insecurity and hunger in this country.

Hunger is not a partisan issue. During the 1960s and 1970s, under both Democratic and Republican Administrations, our country undertook initiatives and put in place programs that substantially reduced the number of people who struggle to feed their families in our nation. Unfortunately, this progress has not been sustained.

We now have the opportunity to forge a new bipartisan partnership, committed to addressing hunger in the United States. Senators Smith, Dole, Lincoln, and I have created the bipartisan Senate Hunger Caucus with that goal in mind. Progress against hunger is possible, even with a war abroad and budget deficits at home. I thank my colleagues for their leadership on the Hunger Caucus and look forward to working with them, and other members of this body, as we consider the Hunger-Free Communities Act.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 1120

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