The Foreign Service Journal, March 2012

M A R C H 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31 F OCUS ON H UNGER AS A F ORE IGN P OL ICY I SSUE C ATALYZING U.S. L EADERSHIP ON H UNGER t was a political development that seemed to come out of left field. In the summer of 2011, just as grim details about the famine in the Horn of Africa began to show up on newsfeeds in industrialized countries, the U.S. House of Representatives voted tomake significant cuts to international food aid funding. Perhaps even more surprising was the sizable contingent of House members, 25 percent, who voted to eliminate all funding to provide basic food rations to some of the poorest people in the world. It’s an understatement to say that the past year has been an eventful one in the U.S. Congress and in national poli- tics generally, full of deals, brinksmanship, rhetoric and ru- mors. At Bread for the World, the grassroots hunger advocacy organization of which I ampresident, we keep re- minding ourselves to keep our eyes on the prize: ending the widespread but unnecessary human suffering that hunger inflicts. Along with other nongovernmental advocacy groups, we have been urging the 112th Congress to adopt legislation that protects and strengthens what the United States is al- ready doing to address the root causes of hunger — and to break new ground. For instance, funding under Public Law 480 (Food for Peace) literally saves lives. Its impact is much more immediate and direct than much of our other federal spending. Hunger Is Not Subtle The most recent famine in Somalia and throughout the Horn of Africa was caused by human beings more than by impersonal forces like drought. Such tragedies make it abundantly clear, if anyone needs reminding, that it is es- sential to maintain a strong global capacity to supply prompt, effective emergency humanitarian assistance. The kind of hunger that babies are enduring in Somalia is not subtle. Nor are votes to zero out hunger programs. So this is not the time for advocates on behalf of the hungry to be subtle, either. In March 2011, I joined Tony Hall of the Alliance to End Hunger, JimWallis of Sojourners, Ruth Messinger of the American Jewish World Service, and Ritu Sharma of Women Thrive Worldwide in an extended fast to call at- tention to the budget threats. Many other concerned indi- viduals, including 14 members of Congress, participated in part or all of the fast. After the fast ended at Easter, faith leaders from diverse U.S. FUNDING FOR GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY IS UNDER THREAT EVEN THOUGH STARVATION CONTINUES TO KILL THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE EVERY DAY . B Y D AVID B ECKMANN The Rev. David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to ending hunger.