On the recordMay 6, 2025
I rise for the fifth time to bring attention to the Trump administration's failure to restore funding for food aid for malnourished children, despite their promise to do so. I speak today about the biology of hunger. A 2-year-old child may weigh the same as a newborn. Their bodies stop growing. Their immune systems shut down. They lose the ability to walk and sometimes even the ability to cry. That is what severe malnutrition looks like, and it is the leading cause of death for children under 5. There is treatment. Ready-to-use therapeutic food is a nutrient-rich peanut paste that delivers the fat, protein, and vitamins that starving children need to survive. It can save a child's life in just 8 weeks. The Edesia factory in Rhode Island has helped save 25 million lives with this food, but that work is now in jeopardy because the administration hasn't followed through on its own promises to continue funding the program. We must restore funding for emergency food aid now. Lives are at stake. I will keep speaking on this floor until that funding is restored. ____________________
