Transcripts For CSPAN2 USAID Food For Peace Program 20171020

For Peace Program is the focus on the Senate Foreign relations hearing. We will hear from the director, Catholic Relief Services an official from the Government Accountability office. This runs about an hour and a half. Foreign Relations Committee will come to order. We are currently facing a humanitarian crisis with over 800 Million People worldwide in need of food aid. The us continues to be the world leader providing more than a third of all food aid. Over 2 billion annually. Sadly despite our generosity there are shortfalls for whats needed due to other donor nations not meeting the challenge and in next years farm bill deliberations women opportunity to do more without having to spend more money. A little over half of our food aid is provided through the farm bill with our food for Peace Program. The farm bill requires aid to be sourced almost entirely from us farmers after which must be shipped on us vessels according to cargo preference rules. Of these restrictions resulting spending as little as 35 to 40 cents on a dollar on food let me say this one more time. Because of the ridiculous utterly ridiculous requirements only 35 to 40 cents of each dollar is it used to to provide food to people who are starving and if we relax the commodity preference to match the needs oversees the cost would drop to medically. Us farmers would still play a vital role in the program and we would free up over 300 million in the taxes to be used to feed up to nine and a half million more starving people each year. One of the major obstacles to modernizing food for peace are those who continue to support them profit from cargo preference rules. Representatives of the shipping industry claim food aid has a Significant Impact on us maritime jobs and our military capacity to move defense material overseas. I have asked our witnesses to provide the committee with facts, analysis, sound research to determine if this is true. For example the industry argues that 40 ships in in 2000 mariners needed for sealift are at stake should we reduce the amount of food aid we ship from the us. A simple review of data shows in 2016 only five us flagships out of a fleet of 175 arguably rely on food aid shipments to stay afloat. Lets me say this, only one of which is even capable of carrying military cargo, one. Some have even questioned why we have cargo preference at all since there is little supporting caveat that the for example the vast majority of food aid is moved on ships incapable of moving military cargo and the ones that can already receive a 5 milliondollar year according to Navy Officials briefing our Committee Earlier this year we maintain a strategic sealift officer reserve a that can meet virtually all of our mariner sealift mobilization requirements and also cannot forget the human toll of commodity and cargo preferences with millions of people who go hungry each year unnecessarily because of these two ridiculous requirements that congress places on food aid. One of our witnesses of Cornell University will testify later that Research Suggests at least 40000 children die annually who would otherwise be saved if we we formed the system there are few areas in government where we can have more impact on lives without Additional Resources than by modernizing the food for Peace Program. We have colleagues today that will listen, make work with us and make common sense food aid changes that are long overdue. I spoke to the tennessee farm bureau, each estate has one. The audience was aghast at the fact that here in washington most people who quote quote represent them with. 1 of all us agricultural exports going to this not 1 ,. 1 , and they were aghast at the fact that congress had people up here in the name of protecting them. These are good people they care about their community and the people around the world, they were aghast at the fact that congress had these ridiculous requirements in place and that people are starving because of these ridiculous requirements. When their goal is to feed america and feed the world. With that, Ranking Member. First, thank you for inducting conducting this hearing. I think every member of this committee very much admires your passion on this issue and leadership on this issue so america can more effectively deal with world hunger issues, so we are proud to be part of your team to figure out a better way to get this done and i think we need to understand the dimensions of this problem. I dont think any of us have experienced the real fear of hunger, may be because of our schedules we might miss a meal, but we dont understand what 815 Million People globally face, which is a real fear of whether they will be able to get the nutrition they need in order literally to survive. Our world produces enough to feed all its inhabitants. However, this year over 20 Million People in four countries alone south sudan, nigeria, somalia and yemen are threatened by famine. Declaration of famine as in the case of south sudan means people especially women and children are dying of hunger, dying of hunger. The value and has called this the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945. Of the chairman is correct, this is urgent and needs to be dealt with. Mr. Chairman, i appreciate that you and senator kunz recently traveled to some of these companies to learn how the us can best help those in need. You have gone there and they are not easy places to get to and we appreciate you taking the time to better understand by seeing the circumstances on the ground. I agree with you that our values as americans and our place as leaders in the Global Community means we must commit to improving how the world tackles this crisis meaning taking a close and honest look at how our policies towards food aid in improving Global Security can be most impactful impactful as a means of securing Adequate Funding for these programs, Adequate Funding is important. Yes, you can reform and get better use of our funds, but it requires we put up the resources therefore more than 60 years the us has been a leading role in tackling hunger and are by far the Worlds Largest food aid donor in cases of disaster, natural or manmade the American People are the most generous in the world and as we look to modernize programs we should not only look at the shipping requirements, but address issues related to prepositioning food aid in the region and concerns about monetization practices, options for increasing cash base options and support local and regional purchasing programs. We should fund our sick Food Security efforts that invest in local agricultural markets such as feed the future to mitigate the need for emergency food aid by creating resiliency and foster healthier thriving communities. Our programs require Adequate Funding and as we embark on this effort to reform our Food Aid Program i want to point out there will always be a place for food grown in the us to be shipped abroad. Sometimes its not possible to buy enough to address the needs in the local markets. Folks should be on organizations on the ground to use the best methods for each situation. With a tailored approach aimed at providing choice we can feed more people and a save more lives. On the forward to our witnesses, but i went to particularly acknowledge Vice President for Government Relations for the catholic services. We take pride because the Catholic Relief Services are in baltimore and we admire greatly the work they do globally and its glad to good to have him on our second panel. Thank you very much. Earlier this morning and are other witnesses on the second panel, thank you for your comments. Our first witnesses back eating acting director at usaid. He manages both of our International Food assistance programs. Reforms emergency Food Security program with authorized last congress and food for Peace Program. Thank you for being here and i know you can summarize your comments at about five minutes and any written material without objection we enter into the record and if you would begin we would appreciate it and thank you for being here and thank you for your service to our country. Microphone. Sorry about that. Thank you. Members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to speak with you today about how to increase the Cost Effectiveness and agility for the food for Peace Program. We are grateful for your support as Committee Members know we face unprecedented levels of global Food Insecurity echoing some of the comments of the echoing state Opening Statements. In conflict zones of south sudan, somalia, nigeria and yemen alone more than 20 people arent risk of severe hunger or starvation. The us has provided humanitarian assistance hoping to contain deadly diseases like cholera cholera, but it represents only a small part of the global Food Insecurity. Global hunger increased for the first time in 2017 and Food Insecurity appears now affects 11 of the worlds population, 815 Million People going to bed hungry each night or more than twice the population of the United States a response to this need that office has provided lifesaving assistance to food in need in about 50 countries this shared. Providing assistance reflects americas compassion and generosity and is critical to our national security. Where hunger persists, instability grows in us Food Assistance in these forms contribute to a more stable world where people have a chance to lead healthy lives. Given the global challenges and the need to improve costeffectiveness of food for Peace Programs the logistics is important and today i will focus on one challenge to improve efficiency. How we should commodities. Under title ii, we receive the funds to purchase Us Commodities such as wheat, rice and sorghum to meet emergency food needs working closely with our partners, Catholic Relief Services and Un World Food Program we identified where these are needed and arrange for them to be shipped to look upon arrival is distributed, always prioritizing the most vulnerable , usually children under five, pregnant and lactating woman. The shipping of commodity overseas is a critical step. The cargo preference act requires at least 50 of the gross tonnage of us ocean cargoes must be transported on us flag privately owned commercial vessels to the extent of those vessels are available at reasonable rates. However, in many cases the us flag is not always available to provide services needed. Example, 20 year 2017 we did not receive a single offer from us flag vessels on the commodity we offered and the majority of our boat cargo is carried by four us flagships contributing to challenges to respond in emergencies and another obstacle is the lack of direct shipping services. Food for peace destinations in us flag meso rows arent always a well mapped and regular flag services dont exist to most destination ports directory directly. Theres the matter of cost. In 2016, the cost of food for peace was more per 10 with us flag vessels compared to foreign flag vessels. s has a Significant Impact on the program. Cargo preference requirements means we pay millions more for Ocean Freight out of the food for Peace Program budget each year. Every dollar counts. Our primary concern at food for peace is to save lives, relief suffering and reach people and that need to to do this, the best we can we are cost silly looking to improve our performance to reach as many people as possible and insure we make the most costeffective use of of american tax dollars. Thank you for your invitation today and im happy to take your questions. I typically dont ask questions first. I will try to be brief. Maritime industry claims 40 us flagships rely upon food aid shipments to stay in business and provide military was to lift capacity, but according to your data from last year i want to reiterate somethings you are saying, five ships carried 66 of all food aid on us flagships under the cargo preference law that you have to adhere to. The rest of food aid was spread amongst 19 ships, 24 total ships with only five that relied arguably on food aid to stay afloat. Is the typical for such a small concentration of us flag vessels to carry such a large percentage of us food aid . Thank you for the question. In the last two years especially that has been the norm, where a small number of ships carry the majority of our bulk cargo. To be clear, 2016 we had five ships that carried the majority and in the middle of the year one of that ships was wrapped by industry, so for ships to carry over 50 of our bulk cargo. Why is that the case . Because we have to rely in us flagships in the concentration of these two companies if you will on these. Is that correct . And theres Just Two Companies that provide those for ships . Those two those for ships or five ships are owned by two companies. They do have the appropriate ships to carry us cargo and we are not receiving other offers from other shipping lines available. If they werent us flags would you receive other offers from other companies . Most assuredly, yes. To put it in perspective we had 26 ships were used for us flags and over 90 with foreign flags. Of the five or four us flags with one scrapped, how many are capable of providing sealift capacity for military cargo . I do for that question to my military colleague. I will say whats useful and proven useful for title ii of the bulk carriers. Let me answer it for you. Its one. A much more does it cost you to ship on us flag vessels than florida foreign flag vessels . Using 2016 for the answer, we paid on average per ton 135 per metric ton for us ships and on foreign flagships we pay on average 65 per ton. I think i will stop. I can imagine why we cause people around the world to starve to support two Companies Based in new york. Someone else may have a rational revision reason, but i will defer to the Ranking Member. I want to go into the areas of reform that we had in the 2014 reform bill that allowed additional flexibility in kind and commodity based food aid and allowed the use of the usaid International Disaster assistance account for emergency Food Security programs. Could you comment as to those changes and how they have impacted our ability to respond to the global needs . Thank you for the question. The emergence of the International Disaster Assistance Fund for food for peace has been instrumental for us to combat food and sick Food Insecurity around the world. Inkind us Food Assistance is not the appropriate tool used to fulfill our mission and primary among those would be syria. Inside and outside syria inkind title ii Food Assistance would not have the impact that our voucher and cash based assistance has allowed. In addition outside of syria we have developed retinal scans to ensure the people identified are the people receiving the food vouchers. In addition, its allowed us to buy food locally and even regionally to be able to respond on a much more quick basis. In the fear beaming able to move the appropriate commodity to the place in a small amount time is crucial save lives. Our ultimate goal is to have selfsustaining countries on their own food supply, resiliency. Can you tell us how the flexibilities that you have use of these funds, are they targeted so we do aim to achieve the resiliency so the local communities can in fact one day be able to handle their own food needs this . Most definitely yes. When we use the id eight funds we do a market based assessment to ensure the markets are they are enabled to support this and in sometimes by incentivizing the market will make a stronger to allow the area affected to more quickly recover. In a sense instead of bringing in which an appropriate foreign commodity into a system disrupting have a negative market are actually incentivizing the market, so most definitely these programs are geared the idea gives us flexibility where its appropriate and our teams do the studies to make sure this is the case. We are strengthening marketing and getting them back on their feet more quickly. I think i understand why we do a source of funds and otherwise you cant get funds unless you use this method. It seems terribly inefficient to ship foods overseas in order to get money for the program you need. Isnt there a better way . Monetization is part of the farm bill at this time in the farm bill stipulates we do 15 for monetization and it has been a way to generate crucial funds as you has said and we lose on average 75 cents on the dollar if not more when we had done traditional monetization programs in the past. Right now, we have one program that fulfills our requirement and that is not the most efficient way to generate the funds necessary to support those programs. I understand the requirements and the thirdparty need for funds and this is the one of the ways they can get funds, but this is not the most efficient way to be able to get resources to deal with the problem . This is not the most efficient way to do that, yes. I am hopeful as we go forward we can develop new ways or more efficient ways to provide that necessary aspect. Im going to use your remaining 39 seconds to embellish and essay, look, we in our own country have issues with china dumping steel or dumping panels or whatever, i mean, its a big issue to us. We with our program where we would like usaid to help countries be self sustainable and thats our goal overtime is that these countries to our program and we take our commodities, ship them overseas, lose 75 cents on the dollar and then sell them to some market price and destabilize the very farmers in those areas that we are hoping over time will build the capacity to feed their own people. Its the most idiotic requirement once one could possibly come up with an again, the entire program is 1 ,. 1 of what our whole arboriculture output is meaning it may have no effect on our culture community. Anyway, thank you. Reserving my seven seconds. [laughter] you are correct. If we appropriated the money so they had the money, this is done, i think, local art of cultural interest, but by thirdparty groups because its a source of funds that they otherwise could not get. We would need to make sure its appropriated in another parts and allow you and others to carry this out and i agree with that 100 and its really an issue of staffers keeping, you know, under their wing additional dollars that the Agricultural Community didnt even want them to keep. Anyway, senator young. Good to see you again. You testified before my subcommittee july 18, and i was grateful for that. I would like to followup and request an update on the situation in yemen specifically humanitarian crisis there in the number of people who are food insecure and subject to the colorado epidemic. Can you provide a quick summary . Thank you for the question. Yemen represents one of the most largest public event terry crisis we have in terms of numbers with an estimated 17 Million People out of a population of 27 million are food insecure at this time. 7 million of those completely dependent upon humanitarian assistance for survival. Since last time we spoke the colorado epidemic continues with over 770 documented cases from the World Health Organization with over 2000 deaths mostly in elderly and children. In our subcommittee hearing you identified the port is the most critical to help mitigate and alleviate suffering occurring in that country, can you explain the importance of that relief effort and how the delivery of usaid funded cranes would facilitate food and medicine to the poor . I would definitely affirm the porch is the principal lifeline for humanitarian operations as well as commercial activities in yemen is dependent upon 90 exports to receive its food. You are correct that they did sponsor on the have the World Food Program to improve Port Operations and those cranes remain in saudi arabia in a warehouse they are. They were denied entry by the coalition of forces at this time. Us a id maintains the addition to these cranes to Port Operations would greatly improve the throughput of that port to allow additional humanitarian as well as commercial cargo to more quickly go through the port and have an impact on the situation. You mentioned saudi arabia and i think you meant to say that cranes are in dubai, but since you mentioned saudi arabia i will move on to that. On june 27, the World Food Program sent a letter to the saudi government asking for permission to deliver the cranes which were turned back by the Saudi Led Coalition sometime ago the content of that letter was seeking permission to deliver those cranes to the port of oh data to expedite the delivery of that humanitarian assistance. The argument we keep hearing, which is consistently met with a compelling and persuasive counter argument is that there is a largescale of humanitarian aid and in july you said what other experts are saying. You said quote we have had no evidence of any largescale or systematic event terry diversions occurring at the port at all. Is that so accurate . Yes. Would you say that mandatory access to the quote humanitarian aid into yemen continues to be a challenge, sir . Yes. Okay. The participants in the conflict are seeking to control access to the beneficiary communities and its something youve gone on record as saying here today and before. Before you have indicated the advancing of their cause. To put that in laymans terms to make what you have indicated, have you said and are you saying today that the participants of the conflict in yemen are deliberately restricting food or medicine to the vulnerable populations to advance their aims . Yes. Are those political aims . Yes. Are those war aims . Yes. And usaids assessment or your assessment are those participants included with would that be the Saudi Led Coalition . That logical connection. Yes, both sides are responsible for that situation. So, it is your assessment that it includes the Saudi Led Coalition . Correct. So, to be clear and to add clarity to our discussions related to yemen, mr. Nims avenue testified saying the Saudi Led Coalition is using food as a weapon of war in yemen they are large part of the problem no doubt, but i for one believe we should use our partnership with the saudis to bring this unacceptable practice to an end without delay. Thank you. Thank you, sir. You have mastered in that subject, no doubts. Senator kent. Thank you for this important hearing on an intolerable situation. Its a requirement in statute that you and many other dedicated professionals do your best to execute on and im grateful for your service and the fact that we has a generous nation continue to try to meet the unbelievable challenge of 20 Million People starving or at risk of starving across just four countries and millions more, you said about 800 million globally going to bed hungry every night. The American People are generous with the most productive farms in the world and is so for decades we have had a program that gives of our abundance to those in need around the world, but we do so in a strikingly inefficient way. I was proud to have a chance to work with my good friend to senator isakson and that ranking chair and others on the global Food Security act permanently authorizing the emergency Food Security program with an import step in providing flexibility for delivering aid and also senator cardin reminded us there will always be a role for Us Commodities in response to crises, but we can and should Work Together to find ways in advance of this farm bill to remove some of these harmful restrictions and requirements that, i think, are so inefficient. Earlier this years senator corker and i visited northern uganda and was grateful for you joining us in both there and south sudan i had a chance to visit sites with people depend on food aid for assistance. Later in august i traveled northeast nigeria where millions have been displaced. I was struck by an Innovative Program that this is an example from save the children, but i suspect its well known to you and when we talk about a cash assistance program, we are not talking about sending out envelopes full of cash. We are talking about a card from a real specific individual that allows her to go out and buy locally food that is appropriate for her and her children and it changes the relationship between this refugee camp in the Community Around it. It provides for stability in the local markets. A provides for better relationship between the Refugee Community and the community thats hosting them and it gives more control for individuals for how they feed their children and it frankly is much more traceable, transparent and efficient, so i would like to ask you a bit more if i could about the socalled cash or voucher assistance programs because i think they are more efficient than the average person might realize. When i first heard about changing from sending shiploads of american grain to sending cash i thought thats not a good idea to it turns out thats not what we are doing. We are mostly doing it through sophisticated means whether through cell phones or retinal scans so we have a very good idea whos getting what money to what purpose. Could you first speak to how it usaid experience local and regional has worked out so far and what are the benefits of a difficult innovative direct transfer food programs and how they help you respond to these food crises . Thank you for that question and thank you again for inviting me on that trip. What we are now colonies programs is marketbased assistance, which means our teams on the ground work hard to understand the Market Conditions and to be clear there are some places in the world where there is no market and crisis exists and we are inkind Food Assistance can play a role. On the local side, we work hard with our partners to identify those areas that exist whether inside a country or in a region in different markets of africa where we can buy the needed commodity that doesnt exist in a place where we need to go in a different location. Allows the partners the ability to buy this adhering to the same rules and governance of procurement that we would use in the United States to make sure we get the right quality of food , good quality of food. By doing that the time saved is huge because the ocean leg is not there. Combined with the market impacts as you said in the community of where we are working and what we have developed over the years is to ensure we are not having a negative impact and are increasing prices whether we buy the wrong commodity or we are somehow contributing to an existing crisis that might be there. That takes a lot of expertise of our partners by Catholic Relief Services to make sure thats happening. The local has saved us time and money and become more effective as an agency in addressing these concerns. On the other program, the Voucher Program or the programs that allow a Family Member or a family to go to a local market or Grocery Store has a doubt helps to develop the industry in these retinal scans on this mobile money to ensure the person targeted, the person thats supposed to receive the aid does receive that and we put in place methods to ensure those are the right people receiving assistance and as you said, the ability to know what the group of people are buying to ensure when we give money we have in a nutritional or Food Security impact and that they arent using these funds and prohibitive in most cases and using these funds for other commodities that dont have food and security impact. We want to ensure we are targeting the most food insecure and that we are having impact. Asked him a question . Sure. The chairman and others, we have spoken about the damage endangers. I understand the benefit to that ngos, but the inefficiency is stunning. What are the negative impacts on the ground in terms of instability local markets and instability of shipping Us Commodities to remote parts of the world to be resold their . At 75 cents on the dollar. I went to take this opportunity to correct that number. Is a 25cent loss, dollar. I want to enter that into the record, 25 cents loss on the dollar. Thank you for that question. Monitors asia has been around for a long time and there are rules that governor cam and how we do monitors asian. It ensures when we go into a country that we do look at the Global Market or universal market in the country to ensure that the tonnage we bring in has a very small impact on the market and we take that seriously with our colleagues at the department of agriculture. We have done that for quite some time, so to answer your question , very minimal detrimental impact on the market of the giving country is what we strive to do because thats what we have been doing. For you for usaid in my office with food for peace the biggest achievement is we live 25 cents on the dollar and it requires that our partners who salvage food have to develop ways to be able to sell the food. Ngos are traditionally not commodities and it takes a Specialized Skill to do this effectively and that takes a lot of time and effort that could be better spent on running programs as opposed to being commodity brokers. We have a shared question about how we sustain us Food Assistance while working together to make it more efficient given the scale and scope of the humanitarian need around the world. Thank you for the hard work you and your folks do. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I apologize for being late. I missed her testimony. My biggest experience in food aid happened a few years ago when a Small Company in georgia by the name of manner which produces a three and a half pound butter based in a heat sealed packet and its a way to keep children and adults alive and avoid malnutrition for a period of time. On not selling for my state, but i might as well. The peanuts is a great product and it tastes good, but i got in the middle of trying to help them and found out there is a lot of politics and brokerage going on and whose food gets sent overseas and where it goes and who takes it in particular in terms of nutrition. There was a French Company that cornered the market and sustaining packets of vitamin fortified foods to get to starve areas and in this case if i remember correctly its somalia. Is there still a lot of politics and committees that try to corner the market . How competitive is it in the stands of lowering costs . Thank you for that question. Usaid and in particular my office food for peace is proud of the ready to use Supplementary Food you mentioned both from manner and to other countries in the us. We see this as a huge success that we have been able to work with these companies with us companies to develop this crucial commodity that exists to say the babies, to save it starving children and we have utilized that over the last four years and increased our purchase of the product. In answer to your question, are there so politics involved, unfortunately there are politics involved on everything, but on this issue we no longer have any restrictions on where we can send that food and regardless of the source they can use it were needed. We see the price over time has become very competitive in the world market and we look at continuing to use this product because of its success. Usaid i know you are under usaid, does the usda also provide food for overseas . As they do. Do you work with them or is it a separate function . We work closely with them. Elements of the usda purchase our commodities and contractors purchase that. We work closely with the Mcgovern Dole School Feeding program as well as schools in progress. On the local level to make sure our programs are working together. So, usda department decides where those commodities are sourced; correct . Correct. They are our contractor and in this case of these special Nutrition Products usaid food for peace we purchase those directly ourselves. Where do you get those . Is there incentive to buy those foods in developing nations that begin a food program to reinforce what they are doing . We would be using their International Disaster Assistance Funds to do that. If there are companies or facilities overseas outside of europe that are able to produce a product that needs meets the requirement of lets say that United Nations unicef or some of our partners we would look at purchasing those products as well. There are at least three i believe plants in africa that can produce a comparable product and we have purchased those. Our partners have purchased those using International Disaster Assistance Funds. Thats the genesis of my question. I traveled to africa quite a bit and many of those countries are developing agricultural programs in their country and it seems like everything we could do to reinforce that by buying their products would just be a two for one when. I agree, sir. Thank you for what you do. Senator, you are recognized. Thank you for being here today in the hard you do to make sure he people get fed in this world. You referred in your testimony to the amount of money that has been appropriated to help address salmon going on right now. Can you be a little more specific about how much of that money has been dispersed, how its being used, what the progress and roadblocks we are experiencing in the distribution of the food thats being bought by those dollars and to follow up on senator youngs comments, clearly we are having a problem in yemen with trying to get help to people who need it, so can you talk more specifically about whats going on . Thank you for that question and i will attempt to answer that the best i can and if there is something of a bout first off, just to thank congress at large for the incredible amount of Financial Support that food for peace received in 2017. As we have said there was unprecedented need in the world and i can say that for a fact. Our partners on the ground have not seen we thought el nino was that of 2016, 2017 is unprecedented in all sense of the world. We have not seen this. Mi correct, there was a report this week talking about the direction of number of people who are food insecure is going up for the first time in a number of years . Correct, senator. The report that came out state of the world of Food Insecurity that said the first year and over the past 10 years malnutrition has increased, so we have been as a World Community decreasing Food Insecurity around the world. Of this year that number has gone the other way. Beginning of a very unfortunate and serious trend. The report further says the majority of this is due to the conflict in the world. To be clear, this is not because of International Development efforts or because we as a World Community are trying to address Food Insecurity to increase food as the Opening Statement there is enough food produced in the world to feed the hungry people. Ended this incident its a direct cause of the conflict, the growing conflicts existing in the world thats causing that. In those four areas where we see famine is our case in point. Most direct as well as the democratic of congo is entering into this stage. Elements and parts of the horn of africa continue to be plagued by conflict. In response to your question, 990 million of supplemental that congress added towards this combat of combating famine, all of that was spent in all of those four primary countries both in the form of id eight and 300 million of that was converted into title ii and that was utilized, so we can say the 990 million was all spent this year into the four countries. It came out towards the end of the year into the fiscal year where we started getting that out the door ordering large volumes as well as making sure our primary partners in those operations received funding and its been expended. We are carrying forward money from 2017 into 2018 which doesnt isnt an abnormal occurrence. We are Still Closing the books, but we will Carry Forward title ii inkind resources as well as other resources that we share with our sister office, the office of foreign Disaster Assistance and usaid. Are the cranes senator young referred to purchased out of those dollars . They were purchased in 2016, if im correct, and those were not part of the 2017 funds. Of they were purchased using International Disaster Assistance Funds. Can you talk about who are the next countries working in those four areas that have provided funding to address the crisis . I will get back to you on the exact levels and assistance as we understand it at this time. In each one of those places our highest donors may be different bit between the countries, but maintain if the European Union what we call at zero, their disaster group. The british government, United Kingdom is usually in the top one or two. Syria right now, the germans have been good partners as well, but in all cases the Us Government is the largest. Mr. Chairman, if i can ask one more question. Are either saudi arabia or any of the gulf countries providing humanitarian assistance in yemen to address the crisis there . They are not providing assistance through the un or other International Ngos that we have been able to track. We have heard the saudia arabian government say they are providing assistance, but its not through the traditional ways we have been able to see. Do we have evidence on the ground that there is assistance provided by saudi arabia . Usaid does not have evidence at this time. Im unaware of our partners and maybe certain ngos or the un have direct evidence of this. Thank you see next senator, you are recognized. Thank you. Right now, we have horrific crisis with the ethnic cleansing in burma and half a million refugees passing across the border into bangladesh an enormous number of people with the flow continuing i think 20000 in the last week or two and another 20000, so use this as an example of how a crisis is developing, how you respond currently and how you can respond more effectively. Thank you for the question. To put it in context, we have seen numbers now six to, 700,000 from burma have fled to bangladesh. To put this in perspective, when we went to the camp in about a son five to sixmonth period we saw upwards of 250,000 people across the border from south sudan into uganda. Right you have what we seem bangladesh is in a three to fourweek period close to six to 700,000 people crossing over into an area, a very small area, so to put that in context we are at the beginnings of a very huge humanitarian crisis. So, your team is in this business of responding. Watch is it you are doing and tell us how changes in the obstacles you face could enable you to be more effective, get there more quickly, get there with more assistance, the types of Food Assistance, whats happening the short version and how could you have the more effective if we changed some rules or regulations . Thus far, food for peace is primarily charged when people cross the border to feed the refugees with our partners. We work in very good coordination with state Department Office of population refugees and migration. They take the leading role as far as helping to set up the camps through their partners whether it be unhcr or International Office of migration and i can say that as far prm and food for peace have been intimately involved in whats going on and worked diligently together. Heres what im looking for, how many ships do you have, wheres the food coming from, is it preposition, do have planes in the air . Do you request cargo planes . Either obstacles you run into . People will stop before we get there, effectively. On happy everyone is working together. Whats happening and how can we improve . In this case because we have a large operation we have been able to use our Development Resources and partners to ensure food has arrived there. We are well able to bite through local funds. Because of the rowboat and its its difficult area and we have had to improve the logistics meaning roads to make sure partners get there. The increase flexibility allows our office to do whats needed whether thats shipping in more quickly the food that senator isaacson talked about about the therapeutic food. We are able to do that with the funds we have now and we are doing that, but with these dynamics and having flexibility to do this and be able to respond to the changing needs over such a fast time to give a speller ability to handle this effectively, so i would say we are set to do this and we look forward to this with increase flexibility we have or can have enabling us to ensure we meet the needs. Thats very bag. Im going to follow up. Do you have a command center where you have key experts in the logistics saying we need bulldozers to get roads in their , we need gravel, can we buy locally, no because everyone in that area is starving. How does that change it and what we have preposition and what is it at . In that come as a sip would Love Development partners so we would be using some of their food which are exactly correct. It the kind of point of the ring. The flexibilities we have given them have allowed him to more fully respond to this. If we could do even more of that, or people could be helped. We thank you very much for your service. Its a shame by the way we do have a leader in burma that cares about them in the first place i could keep the military from doing what they are doing to route these people across the border. I hope she will be demarched what every world world leader on the face of this earth for this instance of the handling of whats happening there. So its something that she herself is helping create. With that thank you so much for your testimony, your service to our country. We will move to the next panel. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] we will now move to our second panel. There are some votes. Apologize there being would apologize in advance. Will the people disappearing because of votes. This testimony will be very important as a relates to us moving it. Our first witness is mr. Thomas melito. Director of International Affairs in trait of the Government Accountability office, gao. Our second witness is mr. Christopher barrett. Spent some time with him. Professor of economics and agriculture at Cornell University. Hes done outstanding work on this topic. Our third witness is mr. Bill okeefe is referred to earlier Vice President for Government Relations and efficacy of the Catholic Relief Services. We thank you for what you and your organization does in this regard. With that featured you could summarize in about five minutes if you have any written materials you want entered into the record without objection it will be. If you could just begin in the order of introduction we would appreciate it. Thank you all for your tremendous efforts. Thank you. Chairman corker, Ranking Member cardin and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss our 2015 report on food aid. The United States ships about 1. 5 Million Metric Tons of food aid in fiscal year 2015. Under current u. S. Law at least 50 of u. S. Food aid us to ship underuse flagged vessels which was reduced from 75 in 2012. Usaid and usda administer Food Aid Programs to department of transportation, dot, is responsible for monitoring usaid and usda adherence to cargo preference requirements. Our remarks addressed three topics, first, cargo preferences impact on food aid. Second, the extent to which cargo preference contributes to sealift capacity, and third, gaos recommendations. Regarding the first topic we found cargo preference increased the cost of shipping food aid for usaid and usda by 107 million from april 2011 through september 2014. Foreign flag vessels charged on average 25 less for shipping than u. S. Flag vessels. According to dot this difference is due to several factors including higher crew, maintenance and overhead costs. We found usda paid higher shipping rates and use fewer foreign flag vessels and usaid because of differing applications of cargo preference requirements between the two agencies. According to the law, compliance for cargo preferences tracked by Geographic Area but this term is not defined. Pursuant to a court order, usda must measure compliance on a country by country basis. They should use u. S. Flag vessels to countries where theres just one shipment a year. This prevented usda from realizing much benefit from blowing of the cargo preference rate. Usaid benefited considerably more sense it is not bound by the court order defining geographic or on a global basis for his package food and regionally for bulk food. Regarding the second topic, cargo preferences contribution to sealift capacity, we found a number of vessels carrying food aid and u. S. Commanders required to crew them has steadily declined despite the application cargo preference. From 20052014 the number of u. S. Flag vessels carrying food aid declined from 89 to 38 at eight and the number of members crewing them fell from about 1500 positions to approximately 600. According to department of defense officials, available vessel and manner capacity has a store could been sufficient to meet all of defensive needs. However, defends most serious scenario envisions a full activation of the entire reserve fleet for an extended period of time including the use of some commercial sealift. Under this extreme scenario dot estimated about 13,000 mariners are required to support both military and commercial needs. While the coast guard database showed over 16,000 potentially qualified actively sailing mariners, dot stated only about 11,000 would be readily available. However, transportation estimates did not include the almost 2000 officers in the office of program of whom over 1000 were not actively sailing and could potentially be called up. We requested at dot provide a sneak of underlying its estimate. However, due to did not provide that to us. For the third topic, gaos recommendations, we had one matter from congressional consideration and one recommendation for the second of transportation grid regarding the medical congressional consideration, despite to past gao recommendation u. S. Aid has not agreed on a consistent method to implement cargo preference based on Geographic Area. As such, cargo should consider clarifying cargo preference legislation regarding the definition of Geographic Area to ensure agencies can fully utilize the Flexibility Congress granted them when it lowered the cargo preference requirements in 2012. Gao also recommend secular transportation study the potential availability of all qualified mariners needed to of the reserve sealift fleet. In its written, duty concurred with our recommendation but it remains unimplemented. In september 2016, dot tested mariner availability for an initial activation of the full fleet. However, this exercise did not engage mariner availability on defense most severe scenario where dot had previously had shortage of mariners. Chairman corker, Ranking Member cardin and members of the committee, this completes my prepared statement. I will please respond any questions you may have. Thank you very much. Dr. Barrett. Chairman corker, Ranking Member cardin, honorable senators, thank you for the opportunity to summarize what best recent Research Tells Us about food aid policies and that we might more effectively use those resources to address global Food Insecurity. U. S. Food aid programs have played a a crucial role in savg and improving lives worldwide for more than 200 years. Sadly, the need for International Food assistance is growing. For the First Time Ever in 2017 the United Nations declared four nations in famine or near famine conditions and proclaimed the largest dimension crisis since the humans creation in 1945. But budgetary resources have shrunk by 76 in inflationadjusted terms since the 1960s. As a result the agencies that provide frontline humanitarian assistance are chronically underfunded. With food aid funding more scarce and needs greater, we must get smarter in how we use these resources. Congress should make two reforms in particular to enhance the Cost Effective use of increasingly scarce food aid sources, first relax or better eliminate the cargo preference restrictions, and relax the restrictions that compel commodity purchased only in the United States. Anticompetitive cargo preference predictably drives up costs by an estimated 2346 , depending upon whose estimate you use, cost anywhere from 50 159 a year depending upon nine dollars a year depending upon prevailing rates. Meanwhile cargo preferences little to nothing for military readiness beyond what is already provided for by the separately funded maritime Security Program, msp. Most u. S. Like cargo preference vessels are not militarily useful lightduty criteria because of their age, size or vessel type. In 60 plus years under cargo preference the pentagon has never mobilize a mariner or vessel from the nonmsp cargo preference fleet. Nor does cargo preference preserve an American Fleet took the daily operating cost of u. S. Flagships average 270 more than comparable foreign vessels, partly because of the fact they are typically slower, smaller and older than their competitors. Cargo preference also generates negligible gains gain for ports where the maritime workforce because food aid represents less than. 3 of merchandise exports from the United States, and even in those ports that have the food aid shipments it is less than 1 of the merchandise export volumes. Cargo preference matters only for a very small number of owners of both and great bulk ships with limited alternative commercial uses. In 2016 just 13 vessels from only three companies accounted for more than 83 of the u. S. Food aid shipments from this country. That sort of cut straight what exact antitrust concerns in most sectors of the economy. Furthermore, many cargo preference vessels are ultimately owned by Foreign Corporations so the profits from the anticompetitive anticompy restrictions on u. S. Food aid are not even american companies. The second major restriction that congress should relax compels domestic procurement of all food for peace commodities. The most effective means to meet the needs of hungry people is typically to provide them with vouchers or cashbased electronic transfers or with food purchased locally or regionally, socalled lrp. Far more often than not lrp and cash electronic cancers save time, money and lives while providing foods that are equally healthy and safe and preferred by recipients over commodities shipped from the United States. U. S. Government has experience with such modalities especially for the emergency Food Security program codified in law is part of the global Food Security act of 2016 led by this committee for which i applaud all of you. Their experience demonstrates these more flexible methods typically outperform. Some claim food aid purchase and use some helps american farmers. No credible study exists to support such a claim. U. S. Food aid programs handle hundreds of millions of dollars worth of commodities, but the use agricultural market is several hundred billion dollars, and if time integrate into a 84 trillion global agricultural economy. Farm prices and incomes are driven by Global Markets. They are not driven at all of the u. S. Today program. These and other restrictions used to date have real consequences. American taxpayers spent far more on shipping and handling than on food. Every tax dollar spent on u. S. Food aid yields only 3540 census commodity to hungry people. The human cost is stark because saving lives in disasters is relatively cheap. The 300 400 million wasted on his various restrictions effectively cost of Something Like 40,000 childrens lives every year. And what is congress by for an extra 40,000 child deaths annually . Tragically very little. The volumes of food aid purchase and ship from u. S. Is a fraction of 1 of the domestic food market, of the Ocean Freight cargo from your sports, the military useful vessels and deepwater workforce is far to water to boost farmers incomes or mariners incomes noticeably or to enhance military readiness. So what should the congress do . Eliminate these restrictions. Give the secretary of agriculture and the eid administrator the flexibility to employ best practice. You have a choice, we can maintain the status quo and thereby keep diverting u. S. Taxpayer money from hungry people to foreign companies, publishing nothing significant for military readiness or americans incomes while costing the lives of disaster affected children. Or we can make changes that can help us better serve the worlds hungry at all of this great nations long heritage of you managing leadership by providing costeffective assistance to the downtrodden threat the world. Thank you very much for your time and interest. Thanks for that outstanding testimony. Mr. Okeefe. Thank you, chairman corker, Ranking Member cardin, and members of the committee for this opportunity to provide testimony on modernizing the food for Peace Program. The food for Peace Program and committed staff of the office of food for peace has been a mainstay of the american response to hungry for over 60 years and it reflects the generosity of the American People. Since its founding, food for peace has only gotten better and today is a Dynamic Program effective delivering a hand up to people and communities otherwise left out of foreign assistance. In natural conflict emergency food for peace provides lifesaving food to millions of people in foldable committees experiencing chronic hunger, its different programs resilient and keep from people from falling and desperation. Last year eastern and Southern Africa were hit by the most severe el nino drought in the generation, but anticipated famine in ethiopia never materialized because food for peace partnering with other u. S. And international entities, Catholic Relief Services and other groups, have built the resilience of communities in drought prone areas and expanded Emergency Assistance to those who needed it. Similarly, and malawi while neighboring communities near emergency food aid, those who had participated in a Development Program that it ended two years prior were able to provide for themselves without emergency help. On behalf of these and others we serve, i want to thank congress for supporting this program especially by reversing the draconian cut proposed in fy 20 ten budget request. With unprecedented human need, we must both improve and expand food for peace and other foreign assistance programs. My written testimony provides high specific suggestions for food for peace. First, eliminate the monetization requirement for Development Food for Peace Programs come second, authorize the Community Development Fund Mechanism which replaces monetization a significant extent and supplements the cash funding that the 2014 farm bill increased. Third, streamline streamlined s and reporting for food for peace in the emergency Food Security program for more seamless responses. Fourth, elevate past performance as a critical factor in determining winning bids for Ocean Freight contracts for any inkind food shipped. And finally eliminate the cargo preference requirement on all Food Aid Programs. I will focus the rest of my remarks on cargo preference briefly. Catholic Relief Services is a major implementer of u. S. Food aid programs including the food for Peace Program managed by usaid and the mcgoverndole food for education and food for progress programs managed by usda. Due to the cargo preference requirement at least 50 of the food aid ship the Ocean Freight for these programs must be on u. S. Flag vessels. We review the shipping history for assisted programs in the fiscal years fy 20 13, 2014, 2015. We literally went through all the bills of lading and conducted analysis and we learned programs during that time account for about 10 of all the food shipped for usda and usaid. We discovered that over the period u. S. Flag carriers were 1851 more expensive per metric ton than foreign flag carriers in the usaid programs, there is a little bit year by just like carriers were 80162 more per metric ton than forth more per metric ton than forth like carriers for usda programs. If u. S. Like carriers have matched the average foreign flag rate in each of these years we wouldve spent 23. 8 million less in shipping during this threeyear time frame would get low back of the envelope map everything that comes out to about half a million additional emergency food aid recipient who we could have helped. Annual congressional appropriations pay for shipping, whether u. S. Or foreign flag, as part of our nations response to hunger and poverty around the world. Extra money spent on shipping is money not spent feeding hungry people. I am not qualified to judge whether the cargo preference requirement achieves the necessary nationals could be objective of maintaining sealift with a laudable goal of providing jobs tied to that capacity however, we at Catholic Relief Services deeply appreciate the service and sacrifice of mariners without deliver food aid for the last 60 years. We welcome their contribution in ways that do not reduce the programs ability to assist as many people as possible. Surely there are other ways of supporting the mariners and maintaining our nation sealift capacity without indirectly penalizing vulnerable and hungry people. Short of limiting the cargo preference requirement we have some specific recommendations that could be considered to reduce its unintended negative consequences. Id be happy to discuss these or any other issues of interest to the committee. Thank you so much for this opportunity. That is some of the best testament weve had before our committee, and i rest my case with the three of you testifying. Im going to do for my questioning time to senator cardin whos going to do for his time to senator kaine who showed up late as usual. [laughing] the late as usual part is a joke. I want to agree with our children. Chairman. I thought that your testimonies were very specific and we appreciate that very much. I might have a few questions for the record that will be tight on time so will get center to gain an opportunity. I used to have history professor good, common late isa 10 00 scholar coming in late but to test whether i want to direct my questions to mr. Okeefe. In your experiences working with the food for Peace Program i would love to hear your view, kind of assessment of potential aspects of inkind food aid relative to the benefits of the cashbased assistance. We have been pursuing a different direction and now a couple years into debt. If you could share your perspective on are our rebalang it right now, that would be helpful. Absolutely. Thank you, senator. So in our assessment cash is a very important tool to add in our toolbox and we deeply appreciated the additional flexibility that the program has granted and the ef sp program authorized by this committee as part of the global Food Security act. We still need inkind food aid in their specific situations. In ethiopia, for example, where the need is huge come inkind food aid is critical. In south sudan where i was two years ago visiting and saw the dysfunction of markets, the overall lack of food available and unbelievable need, we need to bring in Food Assistance from outside. In terms of cash assistance over the last year, crs is providing 779 of cash marketbased assistance of the type weve been discussing in this hearing. Thats doubled since fy 16 and we continue anticipate will continue to grow. Your example of the state program is an excellent summer to one where also doing. I see you can get lunch with a probably somewhere, but the one thing i wanted to add to that is in that conflict situation, we are able to track and monitor the food distributions to this marketbased system through, in other words, cash on a cash to use to buy industry. We can monitor to the internet who is buying at what store in realtime. When in places where we cant actually go safely. So it allows us to extend further that we might normally be able to do because of just series security situations. The balance i think is Getting Better certainly an cash is a a critical tool in our toolbox. Do you think the balance is Getting Better and that the usaid family regional leaders have the tools they need to decide how to adjust that balance to properly account for whats going to be best in the circumstance . I think that theres still situations where the right tool is not always available at the right time. And so, but i dont have an aggregate sense worldwide weather, of kind of whats holding that. I can say for us at Catholic Relief Services, having the ability to make contact specific recommendations based on the market in the people who we are assessing is absolutely critical, which is why we been advocating for increased flexibility. Could ask the other two witnesses would be a significant difference of opinion with what mr. Okeefe said about the stuff between cash and direct food aid . I completely agree. Things have changed dramatically over the past 1520 years. Especially thanks to the fsb theres considerable greater flexibility afforded to human caring agencies and are using it quite well and i plotted usaid. They labor extremely well against the constraints imposed by present statutes but those are binding constraint. They really so delivered in the cost money. Groups are being very efficient and creative but we could do better. Mr. Melito. We have consistently called on aig to make sure they had the underling Market Conditions, choose the right weddell before. Cash is often the right option for something because of droughts and other conflicts its bringing commodities. The commodities can be grown u. S. Or locally regionally. Thank you so know the underling problems. If you provide cash and situation with a shortage of food you could take inflation which in case you drive more people and hunger. The last question i will ask with 30 seconds left is are we doing enough to usaid . Our ngo committee to promote the growth of the Agricultural Sector of economies that are hard hardhit . I mean obviously i see a real correlation between strong agriculture and reduction and hunger, and thats an important question that usaid and other agencies can address are we doing enough of their. As we can certainly do more but let me just say the addition of, crs has a build, grow, a sort of recovery build grow view of agriculture where we were helping people to move up the market chain of involvement. The u. S. Government now has place the food for peace Development Program which helps the poor communities, farmers to become market ready and in the future program which helps those are already beginning to participate in the market to engage and earn more income and can become fully selfsufficient of leaders in the community. Having all those tools in place is very important. They are not mutually exclusive. They dont overlap completely and we need to food for peace Development Program as a key part of our agricultural strategy. The resources are never enough. They are not enough anything we could all agree to that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Senator young. Thank you for holding this important hearing. I would like to direct my questions to you, mr. Melito. I am so appreciative of gao and all the important report your produced and more importantly the recommendations you make to various agencies. As of yesterday department of state at 119 open recommendations, 20 of which were priority recommendations that are still open. Usaid had 42 open recommendation, 11 of which are priority. 20 of those recommendations relate directly to Food Assistance, and five of those our priorities. Its really important to my mind that these recommendations are addressed on account of efficiency and effectiveness. Its my belief that if they were adopted, the efficiency and effectiveness of our Food Assistance programs could certainly improve. Do you sure that you . Very much so. Over the last ten years theres been a number of closed recommendations for a. I. D. And usaid unfit for peace, on food aid. That has included programs but the remaining one should also be closed. I want to commend agency for closing those, but the still a lot of important work to do. Exactly. I introduced s4 18, a a department of state usaid accountability act of 2017 and it would require congress to receive a report from agencies like state and a. I. D. About each of these open recommendations. We want them to identify and publication timeline for each outstanding gao recommendation for an explanation as to why they dont intend to implement big it seems reasonable. Was able to work with the chairman and his staff to get that included in the department of state authorities bill, and then there was a variance in the legislation. We included it in this years defense of National Authorization act on working on broader legislation. Senator coons is an original cosponsor of this legislation that would require all federal agencies to report on outstanding recommendations from the ig and the gao as part of their annual budget justification. You believe this type of legislation would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of agencies across our federal government . We strive for at least 80 of our recommendations to be closed. So any effort on the part of the congress to improve the visibility and awareness and even pressure on the agencies to close a recommendation is welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Senator coons. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to a genuinely excellent panel, providing detailed and thorough testimony on some of the maddening ongoing restrictions on effectiveness and efficiency in u. S. Food aid and some of the genuinely inspiring effort we are making jointly to meet a hungry world. Let me ask dr. Barrett a question about the maritime Security Program. Weve explored it a little bit but theres lot of other issues. The maritime secreta program is designed to ensure the department of defense has ondemand access to sealift capacity during times of war, national emergency. You know in your written testimony the department of defense has never mobilized a mariner or vessel from the nonmsp cargo preference fleet. Is there any evidence that youve come across in your many years of working in this field to support the idea that cargo preference is necessary for our military sealift capacity . Thank you for the question, senator coons. No. Simple answer is no. As you already know. The military readiness of the cargo preference fleet is quite low. We have a large fleet that is militarily ready but its in the Ready Reserve fleet, in the Military Sealift Command and in the maritime Security Program which is essentially a call option on up to 60 ships, each paid 5 million a year for being prepared to mobilize for the pentagon if and when needed. The pentagon has never needed even in recent times of war to activate the whole set of those three types of resources, Ready Reserve fleet, Military Sealift Command, and msp. Cargo preference does not enhance military readiness. With plenty of readiness to other mechanisms. Thank you. Ill ask one of the question if i might. Our friend and colleague from maryland, former senator mikulski, very pointedly asked me if we were to shift to a predominantly cached base system of Food Assistance, wouldnt that undermine a coalition of groups, shippers, maritime unions, commodity groups, that have historically advocated actively for title ii inkind donations leading to reduction in overall food aid assistance, thats actually leading to fewer hungry people getting fed . With any of the three of you care to comment on that assertion . Senator coons, it is only true theres been an Unusual Alliance of shippers, ngos and if you millers, processors over the years to support title ii. This committee and the congress have exams advanced mechanism that are much more efficient. The emergency food to get a program in particular. If title ii were to go away, and im a fan of title ii but if it were to go away and were to be augmentation of budgets, we would see enhancements in service of emergency effective populations around the world. The title ii is declining steadily. Keep in mind as i testified earlier we have a 76 decline in inflation adjusted inflationadjusted terms and u. S. Food aid programs since the heyday in the 1960s. For that coalition isnt maintaining the real purchasing power of the programs. 76 , you mean of those dollars dedicated to purchasing u. S. Commodities and shipping them overseas . The overall budget has declined by 76 in inflationadjusted terms and the margin that takes forth like the u. S. Fighters has grown. The decline in true commodity terms is steeper still. Mr. Okeefe . Thank you, senator, for that question. It is obviously an incredibly important one, and i think we as a country must do the right thing for the people who are trying to serve and continue to find ways to learn from what were doing and to improve it, and were certainly committed to that at Catholic Relief Services. My understanding in europe, and dr. Barrett and mr. Melito may know more, but when they went from an inkind to cashbased system, the the total amount of resources went down enough, that the efficiency gain did not kind of keep up. And so i just think that has to be thought through. I dont think thats a good excuse for doing things that are ineffective or inefficient, but i think maintaining Political Support for helping hungry people is something we have to exercise, care about. Last lessing osa in terms of the farmers, i do think that farmers here understand farmers overseas, the ones ive talked to dont understand the dynamics anything senator corker made this point very clearly in your meeting with the Tennessee Farmers association, they dont understand that works in the kind of ineffectiveness and aggregate level. But it does mean something to them at the human level that things that they produce in that in the mouth of people who need it. I just think that something we should not toy with. Thats real. I, too, have spoken to the farm bureau mi state about this issue. Theres a deep and deserved pride in americas Agricultural Community families in being the most productive farmers on earth in feeding a hungry world. But when they hear about the numbers and inefficiency of how we currently do it, farmers tend to be pretty thrifty people. It makes them a crazy. And concern would be more efficient. I am determined to work with all of you to sustain our support for u. S. Food assistance. U. S. Programs to efficiently meet the needs of a hungry world rather than celebrate and efficiency that leads to fewer being fed. Thank you, mr. Chairman. We have about 30 seconds left on the first boat. There are three votes become to close out the meeting as it is senator markey finishes but im going to close it out now for my participation. What if they the two witnesses for being you. Its been outstanding, the record will remain open until the close of business monday. I assume senator markey will not launch launch a a nuclear wr or do anything while were going to vote, but please enjoy your time, sir, and im going to announce the meeting adjourned as soon as you are finished. Thank you for being here. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. I think you can trust me with my finger on the button but im not sure, think we need a hearing on others having the finger on the button. Just one question, mr. Okeefe. Catholic charities, how can the u. S. Food aid programs better complement of the Community Response efforts so that u. S. Assistance also addresses the root causes of Food Insecurity, political conflict, violence and other issues, how can we do that . Thank you so much, senator. Catholic Relief Services indeed think about about this important question, particularly those of us in the humanitarian sector worked very closely together a year ago to prepare for the world humanitarian summit and develop a whole set of recommendations on humanitarian system reform that would look to drive forward. The most important thing for us is to continue to increase resources they go to hungry people to address both Emergency Needs and the kind of greed of ways we have been part of this hearing to continue to support and expand the food for peace Development Efforts that allow for getting people at the bottom of the income scale to develop the capacity to begin to connect with markets and have a pathway to sustainability, and then through the the future to continue to expand marketbased ways to get millions of farmers and people selfsufficient in addressing their own concerns about malnutrition income and other Food Security challenges. So the tools i think are coming in the focus and its a question of expanding them, and then last thing i will say is just, this was alluded to earlier, so many of the problems are at the core political. As we sometimes feel like were picking up the pieces of problems that are outside of her hands. The people need this assistance but we need to find a Legal Solutions to these complex. Thank you. Thank you for the excellent answer. Thank you all so much for your testimony here today, we are in something that is an annual event, budget, with ten, 20, 30 votes maybe today so we apologize to you, the way in which today is going to be conducted, but it doesnt in any way reduce the thanks we have for you and impressive nature of your testimony to take you so much. This hearing is adjourned. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] when i first went in, its a long story but i was able to get back to the surface, but then a bunch of them jumped in and is a picture which im sure you will show of them pulling out of the lake. You can see my arm is broken up high, then of course once they pulled it out they were not very happy to see me, because i just finished bombing the place. And so it got pretty rough, broke my shoulder and hurt my knee again, but look, i dont blame them. I dont blame them. We are in the war. I didnt like it, but at the same time, when youre in a war and your captive by the enemy, you cant expect, you know, to have tea. Fifty years after his capture, arizona senator john mccain talks about the impact of the vietnam war on his life in the country sunday at six sd 10 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Coming up in about an hour and a half the French Armed Forces minister will talk about her countries defense and the role in International Fight against terrorism. Live coverage begins at 10 a. M. Eastern on cspan2, online at cspan. Org and streaming on the free cspan radio app. Until then we will take you to capitol hill for look at how Healthy Lifestyles can reduce healthcare costs. We wish we as much of this send health, education, labor and Pensions Committee hearing as we can. [inaudible]