Political Quotes

“last week I was here on this floor for an hour speaking of the crisis in southern Africa, speaking about the famine, speaking about southern Africa's plight. Approximately 13 million people in southern Africa are in danger of starvation. Last week, I talked about the fact that people were resorting to eating whatever they could find, dirt, bugs, weeds, whatever could fill their stomachs. I talked about the depiction of this famine on ABC last week. I raised the question of why it has taken us so long to respond to what is now impending death in these six nations. I have asked over and over again for this issue to be addressed in the Congress of the United States. On July 18, the Secretary-General of the United Nations launched the consolidated national appeals for the humanitarian crisis in southern Africa. The United Nations is requesting $611 million for immediate food, medicine, and other emergency assistance to respond to this crisis. This assistance is needed within the next 2 months. It cannot wait until next year. In the midst of this crisis, the administration is proposing to cut total funding for food assistance programs by 18 percent. This would reduce food assistance funds from over $2 billion in fiscal year 2002 to less than $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2003. This lower level of funding would have to provide for the continuing needs of Afghanistan as well as the emerging famine in southern Africa.”