Rob Andrews: “I deeply respect the authors of this amendment and respect their effort to try to balance competing concerns, but I…”

“I deeply respect the authors of this amendment and respect their effort to try to balance competing concerns, but I respectfully believe that they've struck the wrong balance. One concern that I have here is that money is fungible and food is not. The possibility of corruption occurring--not because of the good- faith NGOs, but because of some of the forces at work in the countries we're talking about--is a problem. At the same time, I believe the effect of this amendment would be to undercut our merchant marine activities, our agricultural exporters, and ultimately undercut support within this country for a robust program of food aid to the rest of the world. The present structure of the program is inclusive; it builds support. I respectfully think this amendment would detract from that support. For that reason, I would urge a ``no'' vote.”