Senators urge U.S. agencies to use trust to help ease global food insecurity

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – A group of Senators has banned together to urge U.S. agencies to open the gates of a trust meant to help the world fight hunger.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) says he joined Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) to lead a bipartisan group of their colleagues to urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Agency for International Development to release resources within the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust to fight global hunger.

Moran said the Trust, an emergency international food assistance program, could help the currently 45 million people in 43 countries on the brink of famine.

“At times like today when emergency funds available under Food for Peace Title II are clearly insufficient to meet global hunger needs, the Secretary of Agriculture can authorize the trust’s release at the request of the USAID Administrator,” wrote the senators. “We strongly urge those actions to occur. Global food security needs have clearly outpaced the United States’ capacity to respond through other food assistance resources. We urge you to utilize the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust to save lives in this unprecedented time. It is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.”

Moran said the letter is also signed by Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Angus King (I-Maine), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

To read the full letter, click HERE.