U.S. food aid system antiquated and inefficient

The United States, a country with so much abundance, cannot sit back as impoverished nations suffer from high food prices, said John Hamre, President and CEO of The Center for Strategic and International Studies.

J. Stephen Morrison, Co-Director of the CSIS Task Force on the Global Food Crisis, listed several steps to a pragmatic policy for bipartisan efforts against poverty. He said the emergency response system must be modernized, and monetary commitments doubled. He said rural agriculture must be supported as well. Also, approaches to fuel security must be clarified as well as U.S. trade policy adjusted to support third world capabilities.

Senator Robert Casey (D-Pa.) said the gravity of the world food crisis cannot be overstated. He said the current U.S. food assistance program is antiquated, costly, and inefficient, sometimes taking as long as six months for aid delivery. He plans to work on new development legislation to double the U.S. food assistance commitment. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) emphasized the potential of genetically modified foods in the fight against rising food costs. He said undeveloped countries are starved of both food and science. The 40countries threatened by food shortages do not use genetically modified foods, and in some cases reject genetically modified food aid.

Aid, more than just dropping food out of airplanes

A hearing on international disaster assistance was held before the Senate Foreing Relations Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection. Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said that humanitarian aid is more complicated than dropping food and water out of an airplane.

According to panelist James B. Warlick, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs, the U.S. should turn to the U.N. Secretariat and operational agencies when U.S. bilateral assistance is shunned. Warlick also pointed out that the response of the international community could be rejected or hampered by local forces.

Menendez questioned Warlick as to what the State Department’s view on the ‘responsibility to protect’ concept. Menendez gave the example of Zimbabwe where 20 tons of food assistance for school children was confiscated and distributed only to supporters of President Robert Mugabe at a political rally instead. Warlick said that on the first level, each individual was responsible for helping its people. Following that, the international community should use peaceful means to assist through the U.N. Lastly, the international community should be ready to take action as a last resort if the people of the country requiring aid were denied access to it by the local government.

White House Gaggle

Briefer: Tony Fratto,

President’s Schedule:

At 9.45 am, President Bush is briefed on the Midwest flooding situations. At 10:20 am, the President meets with the Former Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in the Oval Office of the White House. This afternoon, President Bush will make remarks in honor of Black Music Month.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto will brief the press at 12.30 pm today.

Flooding in the Midwest

Fratto was asked if they know what kind of economical impact this will have; and he said that the President will hear about this in this morning’s meeting and Fratto will get a readout from it that will give us a better view. “Obviously the human cost is something that you cannot put a value on … the impact on agriculture is also very substantial.” It has been a very well integrated effort both on federal and local levels, Fratto said.

The President is traveling to the region on Thursday but no exact itinerary has been announced yet.
When asked about the 27 levees that are said to be at risk, Fratto was questioned about the President’s confidence in the job of the Army Corps of Engineering’s. He responded that the Corps takes this very seriously and maintaining levees around the country is one of their top priorities. We will wait to see what will come out of the meeting and the Corps will report on those levees and the ones that have broken this morning.

When asked about the impact on food cost that are already high, Frattos said that food prices are very volatile and it is too early to speculate, but Ed Lazear of the White House Economical Council as well as the Department of Agriculture are looking at this right now.

Fratto was asked if the President has been told by Administrator Paulison or others, that this flooding is on the scale comparable with Hurricane Katrina, and he responded that he had not heard that comparison. “I am not sure that anyone would make those kinds of comparisons between really different kinds of natural disasters. …It is a very large significant scale affecting tens if not hundreds of thousands of people, and we’ve got life lost and money lost. He continued: “Katrina and the hurricane that followed …was one of the all time unusual natural weather events that this or any country ever had to deal with. This flooding is significant and has been referred to as one in 500-year-flood.” Fratto also said; “I think that the team that is involved in this, clearly learned lots of lessons from Katrina, and I think that those lessons appear to be paying off.”

Furthermore, Fratto talked about the importance of communication, integration and being able to anticipate what the needs are going to be, in dealing any kind of natural disaster.


Israel and Hamas
When asked about a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, Fratto said that he had not heard that.

Ailing economy makes every day a struggle

Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) held a press conference today on “Making the American Dream More Affordable.” Reid said that Republicans are preventing progress on making higher education more affordable and improving social security and Medicaid. Dorgan said that the economy is “sick” and that the minority in the Senate keeps saying no to the necessary changes Democrats wants to make.

Treena Walker, an office cleaner and single mother, said that she struggles to provide for her children, unable to pay for all of the food, gas, and healthcare her family requires. Sadie Coleman, a senior member of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said that she struggles to pay for her medications and that she has seen friends cut pills in half to make medications last longer. Sheila Isong, a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, said that she has overwhelming student loan debt and hopes that the Democrats can make real changes to make high education more affordable.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), said that the Senate is mere votes away from passing legislation to ease economic woes, but that the minority is preventing progress

Disagreement on cause of food and oil prices

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs met to discuss financial speculation in commodity markets and to hear statements as to whether or not investors and hedge funds are causing inflated food and energy prices. Witnesses discussed their findings on the influence of speculation on the global rise in commodity costs.

Michael W. Masters of Masters Capital Management, LLC., stated that a lack of lines at the gas pump and the availability of food on shelves, a clear indication of supply, does not warrant an increase in prices, an increase that would suggest greater demand. In addition, Masters refuted the suggestion that oil prices have increased due to increased demand from developing states such as China. Masters cited a Department of Energy report which said that Chinese demand for oil has increased by 920 million barrels over the last five years and compared that to increase in demand from index speculators, an increase of 848 million. According to Masters, this increase is not responsible for a 183% increase in oil prices in the last five years.

Thomas Erickson, the chairman of the Commodity Markets Council, mentioned five reasons as the cause of price levels: strong economic growth in China and India, increased demand, reduced yield due to weather events, export restrictions, and the weakening U.S. dollar. Jeffrey H. Harris, the chief economist of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC,) said that price levels are the result of the laws of supply and demand and not due to speculation trends.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) expressed frustration with Harris, stating "The people of America are about to take-up pitchforks." McCaskill asked Harris what tools he and the CFTC need to see the influence of speculation on commodity prices. Under oath, oil company officials testified that $30-$50 dollars per barrel can be attributed to speculation.