The World Food Program USA today urged citizens to contact the Senate about saving food aid from budget cuts. A new online platform set up by Senator Patty Murray, Chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, invites people to make their voice heard.
WFP USA said today, "Join us in telling the Senate Budget Committee that programs working to solve global hunger and malnutrition matter to you." Funding for food aid programs makes up less than one tenth of one percent of the overall U.S. budget. Cutting these programs will save little money while causing great harm across the globe.
With around 870 million people suffering from hunger the US Food for Peace program is a lifeline. This program is the main tool of the United States for fighting global hunger. Food for Peace is the largest supporter of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the largest humanitarian agency.
With so many humanitarian emergencies ongoing in Syria, Afghanistan, Mali, Yemen, Haiti and elsewhere, food aid is increasingly vital. WFP USA says natural disasters have quadrupled over the past 20 years and the number of people displaced as a result of civil conflict has risen from 17.4 million to 27.5 million since 1997.
Programs like the McGovern-Dole school meals and Feed the Future aim to provide longer-terms solutions to hunger in developing countries. Without funding these programs will languish.
To contact the Senate Budget Committee click here.
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