Sam Brownback: “the Senate Agriculture appropriations bill only includes $25 million for the McGovern-Dole International Food for…”

“the Senate Agriculture appropriations bill only includes $25 million for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. The Bush administration has said that $25 million is not a level adequate to achieve the objectives of this important program. I agree with the administration that $25 million is woefully inadequate and would like to see the Senate fund this program at the $300 million level for which it was originally authorized. However, at a minimum, I contend that the Senate should accept the $56.8 million currently in the House bill. McGovern-Dole food aid is vitally important because it: one, provides humanitarian assistance by reducing incidence of hunger among the nearly 300 million chronically hungry school-age children and also promotes maternal, infant, and child nutrition programs for pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children five years old and under, two, enhances literacy and primary education by increasing school attendance of those 120 million school-age children who currently do not attend school--sixty percent of which are girls, and three, reduces terrorism by fostering goodwill toward the United States.”