The Alliance to End Hunger commends the U.S. House of Representatives for today’s passage of H.R. 8446, the Global Food Security Reauthorization Act (GFSA). This legislation will ensure the United States’ successful Feed the Future program and broader food security initiatives continue for another five years.
The bill comes at a critical time with an unprecedented global food crisis with areas in the Horn of Africa approaching famine status. Vulnerabilities in global food and relief systems have never been more apparent, as the world continues to dive into a worsening food crisis, the need for resources directed toward both relief and resilience have never been greater. The convergence of extreme weather and climate shocks, including severe draught, the COVID crisis, and the war in the Ukraine, have devastated lives and exacerbated food crises around the globe.
Passage of the GFSA reauthorization will help provide both critically needed emergency funding as well as provide longer-term resilience funding for inclusive and sustainable agricultural-led economic growth to help place countries on a path toward resilience and food and nutrition security. Strategic investments in food security, agriculture development, and nutrition are the most effective way to reduce vulnerability to food shocks and stresses and address chronic poverty and hunger.
The Alliance to End Hunger thanks the bill’s lead cosponsors, Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), along with the persistence of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-TX) for moving this bipartisan legislation. We now call on the United States Senate to take up and pass the Global Food Security Act expeditiously.
