Herb Kohl: “I offer an amendment to provide $600 million for our international food aid programs. Our amendment is necessary because…”

“I offer an amendment to provide $600 million for our international food aid programs. Our amendment is necessary because of the intense pressure the food needs in Iraq have placed on our world food programs. Already, the Department of Defense has used $269 million from our largest international food aid program--PL-480--to feed the Iraqi people. As the war progresses and the reconstruction begins, the draw on our existing food aid accounts will continue. Specifically, our amendment replenishes the $269 million already taken from PL-480 for Iraq. It also adds $100 million to an emergency grain reserve--the Emerson Trust--which has recently released approximately 800,000 tons of wheat to Iraq. A final $231 million is made available for future Iraqi draws on PL-480 as that country waits for the resumption of the UN 'Oil for Food' Program. This amendment is responsible budgeting. We are asking only for the minimum dollars we need to meet an unanticipated food crisis in Iraq--a crisis that is the direct result of the war.”