Global Hunger/Live Below the Line

Floor Speech

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, it is the lunch hour here in Washington, D.C., but for the over 840 million people around the world who are struggling with hunger, an adequate lunch is a luxury they cannot afford. Instead of enjoying food, they are facing a terrible, gnawing pain in their gut right now. By the time I finish this statement, six children will have perished because of hunger or inadequate nutrition.

This week, the World Food Program is asking everyone to try to Live Below the Line--to put yourself in the shoes of the hungry, and to try to get by on only $1.50 of food per day--the purchasing power of people living in extreme poverty, as defined by the World Bank. I and members of my staff are taking this challenge. But for millions of people, this is not about 1 day or 1 week. This is about their everyday lives.

It should not be this way. As President Kennedy said over 50 years ago:

We have the ability, we have the means, and we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the Earth. We need only the will.

In the past, Republicans like Bob Dole and Democrats like George McGovern came together. They led this battle against global hunger. Today, we have a moral obligation to continue that battle, to meet our responsibilities to our fellow man and woman--and to our children--and to do what we can to end the scourge of hunger in our own Nation and around the world.

Mr. Speaker, let's take advantage of this challenge. Let us end hunger in this generation.

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