The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“McGOVERN-DOLE INTERNATIONAL FOOD FOR EDUCATION PROGRAM” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2976 on May 1, 2017.
The Department is primarily focused on food nutrition, with assistance programs making up 80 percent of its budget. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department implements too many regulations and restrictions and impedes the economy.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
McGOVERN-DOLE INTERNATIONAL FOOD FOR EDUCATION PROGRAM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, one of America's signature child nutrition and food security programs.
Established by Congress in the 2002 farm bill, over the past 15 years, it has provided life-saving meals in school settings to over 14 million of the world's most vulnerable children.
Administered by the Department of Agriculture, this bipartisan-
supported program provides U.S. and international organizations with U.S. commodities, grants, and technical assistance to strengthen child nutrition and education.
It receives a modest $201 million each year. Regrettably, the President's FY 2018 budget would cruelly eliminate the entire program.
McGovern-Dole is named after two Senators who worked in a bipartisan way during their long tenures in the Senate to end hunger, especially among children in the United States and around the world. They continued their work together after leaving the Senate. They are models for what can be accomplished when Members of Congress actually put petty partisanship aside and make the welfare of children and families become your number one priority. And even though George McGovern is no longer with us, Bob Dole continues to champion this cause.
On March 20, in a statement to The Washington Post, he said:
``Eliminating the McGovern-Dole program would have a disastrous effect on the planet's most vulnerable children. Without a reliable source of nutrition, these children face a lifetime of stunted physical and mental development and unrealized opportunity. This global school meals program remains one of the proudest achievements of my lifetime. It embodies the very best of America's values. Saving this program means saving lives. It's as simple as that.''
Madam Speaker, working through partners like the U.N. World Food Programme, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, Save the Children, Counterpart International, and many more, McGovern-Dole has reduced the incidence of hunger among school-aged children. It has increased school enrollments and attendance. It has increased the support of families and communities for education, especially for girls. It is a proven success.
Instead of eliminating it, we should be strengthening and expanding it. Now, I have had the privilege of visiting some of these programs around the world. In Colombia, I visited a program in Soacha, on the outskirts of Bogota. On barren hillsides, surrounded by shanties housing thousands of internally displaced families, children were receiving a school breakfast and lunch. Mothers and grandmothers were training as cooks preparing the meals. Clearly visible in the cafeteria were USAID bags of grains, beans, and lentils.
One mother came up to me and said: ``Please thank the American people when you go back home. I couldn't feed my children. I couldn't send them to school. I was afraid my son was going to join the paramilitaries or guerrillas just to get food. Now my son is getting fed and he is staying in school. Please tell the American people thank you.''
In Nairobi, Kenya, in the largest slum in the world, I went to a McGovern-Dole breakfast and lunch program. The school principal showed me how they store and prepare U.S. commodities that feed her students and how all the students know that this program is from the American people. I ate porridge made from yellow peas grown by American farmers. The kids dug into this food like it was manna from Heaven. One little boy would take a bite and then scoop a small amount out of his bowl and put it in his pockets. He was taking food home to his younger siblings who don't get anything to eat.
Outside of Nairobi in Maasai country is a school for girls where McGovern-Dole provides a hot lunch. I helped cook and serve the meal of U.S. bulgur wheat and locally grown vegetables. One student told me how grateful she was to be able to go to school every day and eat every day. She grew up in a village over 100 miles away.
When she was 12, her father told her that she had to marry a much older man. She refused. Her father ordered her to go to her uncle's house and get his machete and bring it back to him. She knew that he was going to kill her.
She ran away, walking alone for days, because she had heard of this school. And when I met her, she was 15, healthy, and well fed, and at the top of her class. I knew I was talking to someone who will some day be a leader in her country. In the very best way, she will never forget us.
And when we take food away from children, families, and schools, those communities will never forget us either. They won't forget that we took away their children's future. I wouldn't forget it if it were my child. Would you?
Madam Speaker, there are many ways to advance U.S. national security and economic interests abroad. Education and child nutrition are very much at the top of the list. So I urge my colleagues to visit McGovern-
Dole programs when they travel abroad and to support continued funding of the program in FY 2018. It is yet another way that we can all work together to end hunger now.
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