Please join me for a flying dog beer. I announcer cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Georgetown associate law professor will join us to tolain his path from prison georgetown law and his fight for prison reform. Been talking about the real reason why nfl players neil during the National Anthem to policewareness about brutality. Join the discussion. Closure eyes for a moment. Stretch. Closure eyes. I see you. Trust me. Empathy. I want you to stretch your imagination. [crushing, crashing] thats a fast it happens. In a blink. No warning. A paralyzed veteran talks about his own accident. I am talking about what i see from a patient perspective, policy the United States continues to be the world leader in providing more than a third of all emergency food aid. Ver 2 million annually sadly, despite our generosity, there are shortfalls. A little over half of our food aid is provided through the farm bill. These restrictions result in spending as little as 35 to . 40 on a dollar on food. Let me say this one more time. Because of these ridiculous, utterly ridiculous requirements, only 35 to . 40 of each dollar is actually used to provide food to people who are starving. If we roll actually commodity preference to match the needs overseas, the overhead cost would drop dramatically. U. S. Farmers would still play a vital role in the program and we would free up over 300 million in taxes to be used to feed of 10 9. 5 million more starving people each year. One of the major obstacles to modernizing food per piece are those who continue to support and profit from cargo preference rules. Representatives of the shipping industry claim that food aid has a Significant Impact on u. S. Maritime jobs and our capacity to move Defense Materials overseas. Witnesses toour provide the committee with facts, analysis, and sound research to determine whether this is true. The industry argues that 40 and 2000 mariners needed for military sealift are at stake should we reduce the amount of food aid we ship ship from the u. S. A simple review of data shows that, in 2016, only five u. S. Flag ships out of a fleet of 175 arguably rely on food aid shipments to stay afloat. 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 evidence that the requirement effectively secures naval sealift capacity. For example, the vast majority of food aid is moved on ships in capable of moving military cargoes. And the ones that can already received a 5 million a year subsidy. According to the Navy Officials briefing our Committee Earlier this year, we maintain a strategic sealift officer can meetrogram that i virtually all of our mariner sealift mobilization wire and. We also cannot forget the human toll of commodity and cargo millions andith nines of people go hungry each year, im mrs. Early, because of these two ridiculous requirements that congress places on food aid. Of our witnesses, dr. Barrett of cornell university, will testify that Research Suggests at least 40,000 children die annually die annually who would otherwise be saved if we reformed this system. There are few areas in government where we can have more impact on lives without Additional Resources than by modernizing the program. Colleagues to listen to todays testimony, work with us to make common sense changes. I spoke to the Tennessee Farm Bureau each state has one. The audience was aghast at the washington,ere in those people who represent ag, with. 1 of all u. S. Had people up here in the name of protecting them. These are good people who care about their communities. They care about people around the world. They were aghast at the factor that congress had these ridiculous for firemens in place, and that people are starving because of these ridiculous requirements. When their goal is to feed america and if he the world. Mr. Chairman, first, thank you for conducting this hearing. I think every member of this committee very much admires your passion on this issue and your leadership on this issue so that america can more effectively deal with world hunger issues. We are proud to be part of your team to figure out a better way to get this done. We need to understand the dimensions of this problem. I dont think any of us have experienced the real fear of hunger. Maybe because of our schedules, we might miss a meal, but we peoplenderstand what 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 of its inhabitants. As we sit here, over 20 Million People in poor countries alone just for countries south somalia, people, especially women and children, are dying of hunger. Ying of hunger the u. N. Has called this the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945. The chairman is right. This is an urgent issue that needs to be dealt with. Mr. Chairman, i appreciate that you and senator koontz recently traveled to some of these countries to learn how the u. S. Can best help those in need. They are not easy places to get sued. We appreciate very much your taking the time to better understand by seeing the circumstances on the ground. I agree that our values as americans and our place as league just as leaders in the global community, the u. S. Must see how the world is tackling this crisis. That means taking an honest look at our policies for food aid and improving Food Security can be most impactful inamed means of showing Adequate Funding for these programs. Dequate funding is important you can reformat it better use of our funds, but it does or wire that we put up the resources. Years, thean 60 United States has played a leading role in tackling hunger. Largest food the aid donor in cases of disaster, natural or manmade. As we look to modernize the food aid programs, we should not only look at the shipping requirements, but also addressed issues related to the positioning food aid in the region, concerns about monetization practices, options for cashbased options, and support for local and regional programs. We should be sure to adequately fund the security efforts that invest in local agricultural theets, such as feed future, which help mitigate the need for emergency food aid by creating resiliency and help foster healthier thriving communities. Our Agricultural Development programs require Adequate Funding. Effort, irk on this want to point out that there will always be a place for food grown in the United States to be shipped abroad. Sometimes, it is not possible to buy enough to address the needs in the local market. Our focus should be on giving aid distributed organizations on the ground the flexibility to use the best methods for each situation. A tailored approach aimed at providing as much choice as possible that we can feed more people and save more lives. I look forward to all of our witnesses. I want to particularly acknowledge bill okeefe. Becauseparticular crime of baltimore. We admire greatly the work they do globally and glad to have him on our second panel. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. Our first witnesses the acting director for the office of food for peace at the usaid. He manages both of our International Food assistance programs. We authorized the reform congress. Rogram last we thank you for being here. You can summarize her comments in about five minutes. Any written materials, without objection, we enter into the record. Again, thank you for being here and thank you for your service to your country. Thank you. Thank you for the invitation to come speak with you today about how to increase the Cost Effectiveness and agility or the food for Peace Program. We are thankful for your support at this critical moment in history. We are facing unprecedented levels of global Food Security, echoing some of the comments in the Opening Statement of Ranking Member cardin in south sudan, nigeria and human alone. More than 20 Million People are at risk of severe hunger or starvation. The u. S. Provides humanitarian assistance to ever famine and contain deadly diseases like cholera. These four countries represent a small part of the global Food Insecurity. Global hunger increased for the first time in my that a decade. Food insecurity now affects 11 of the world population. Thats 815 Million People going to bed hungry each night or more than twice the population of the United States. For peace hasfood provided lifesaving assistance in about 50 countries. Providing Food Assistance to the most Vulnerable People reflects americas compassion and generosity. It is critical to our national security. Where hunger persists, instability grows. Given these global challenges and the need for us to improve the Cost Effectiveness and efficiency of food for peace logistics is incredibly important. I will focus on when challenged to improving efficiency, how we procure and ship commodities to the title ii program. Under title ii of the food for peace act, we receive funds to purchase u. S. Commodities, such as wheat, rice and sorghum, additional products to meet emergency food needs. Partners, weour identify when and where u. S. Commodities are needed and weary for these commodities to be shipped from u. S. Ports to their destination. Arrival, food is distributed in various ways, always prioritizing the most vulnerable. The shipment of commodities overseas is a critical step in the title ii process. The cuddle the cargo preference act requires that 50 of the gross tonnage of the u. S. Financed asian cargoes must be transported on u. S. Flagged privately owned commercial vessels to the extent those vessels are available at fair and reasonable rates. However, in many cases, food for peace has found the u. S. Flag the ghastly is not always available. For example, 2017, we did not from u. S. Single offer flag vessels on over 250,000 metric tons of commodity that we offered. Cargojority of our book is carried by only four u. S. Flagships that contributed challenges to respond in emergencies. Another obstacle is the lack of direct shipping services to regions. Are notvessel routes always well matched. Regular Flight Services do not destinationt of our ports directly, particularly in southern and western africa, which rely on a hub and spoke system for u. S. Inkind food aid. Finally, theres the matter of cost. Was more for cost flagged vessels than foreignflagged vessels. In particular, for humanitarian operations like ours already struggling to keep pace with the unprecedented levels of global hunger. Requirements mean that we paid millions more for Ocean Freight each year. Now more than ever, every dollar counts. Saverimary concern is to lives, relieve suffering and reach people in need. Can, weis the best we are constantly looking to improve our performance to reach as many people as possible and ensure we make the most taxpayerctive use of dollars. Thank you for your invitation here today. I am happy to take your questions. Dont typically ask questions. But i will try to be brief. Requireflagships sealift capacity. According to your data from last year, i want to reiterate some of the things youre saying. All ships carried 56 of food aid on u. S. Flagships under the cargo preference law that you have adhered to. Is it typical for such a small concentration of u. S. Flag vessels to areas such a large percentage of u. S. Food aid . Thank you for that question. Two yearst especially, that has been the norm. A very small number of ships carry the majority of our book cargo. , we had five2016 ships that carried the majority of that. But in the middle of the year, discontinued. There are Just Two Companies that provide those for ships . Ships are owned by two companies. The appropriate ships to carry u. S. Cargo and we are not receiving offers from other shipping lines. To put it in perspective, we had 26 ships that we use for u. S. Flag. How many are capable of providing sealift capacity for military cargo . I would refer that question to my military colleagues. I will say what is useful for title ii are the book carriers. Let me answer it for you. It is one. How much more does it cost to ship on u. S. Flag vessels than foreign flagged vessels . Works on average we gave per ton 135 per metric ton for u. S. Ships. On foreign flagships, we pay on average 65 time. I think i will stop. Why we causene the country around the world to start to support two companies in new york. I will defer to the Ranking Member. Climax i want to go into the had inf reform that we the in 2014 farm bill. That allowed additional flexibility in the regards of this regards to inkind and commoditybased 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 DisasterAssistance Fund for food for peace has been instrumental for for us to combat 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 cashbased 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 when we use the idea a funds 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 say, 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 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 questi