117th CONGRESS 2d Session |
To amend the Global Food Security Act of 2016 to improve the comprehensive strategic approach for United States foreign assistance to developing countries to reduce global poverty and hunger, achieve food and nutrition security, promote inclusive, sustainable, agricultural-led economic growth, improve nutritional outcomes, especially for women and children, build resilience among vulnerable populations, and for other purposes.
July 27, 2022
Mr. Casey (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Boozman, and Mr. Coons) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
To amend the Global Food Security Act of 2016 to improve the comprehensive strategic approach for United States foreign assistance to developing countries to reduce global poverty and hunger, achieve food and nutrition security, promote inclusive, sustainable, agricultural-led economic growth, improve nutritional outcomes, especially for women and children, build resilience among vulnerable populations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2022”.
Section 2 of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9301) is amended to read as follows:
“Congress makes the following findings:
“(1) According to the World Food Programme of the United Nations, nearly 193,000,000 people faced acute food insecurity and required urgent assistance in 2021, compared to 108,000,000 people who were in such a situation in 2016.
“(2) According to Food and Agricultural Organization’s Food Price Index, the cost of food in 2022 has risen to the highest levels on record, representing a 57 percent increase compared to the cost of food 2016. According to the World Bank, every 1 percent increase in food prices pushes 10,000,000 more people into extreme poverty worldwide.
“(3) According to the February 2022 ‘Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community’, ‘The economic fallout from COVID–19, combined with conflict and weather extremes, has driven hunger worldwide to its highest point in more than a decade, which increases the risk of instability.’.
“(4) On March 10, 2022, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declared that ‘as a consequence [of the war in Ukraine], we perceive that there is an increasing [food insecurity] challenge… particularly with developing countries.’.
“(5) Realizing that increased food production addresses one aspect, but not all aspects, of food and nutrition security, a comprehensive, multisectoral approach to sustainable food and nutrition security must consider agriculture and food systems in their totality.
“(6) Such an approach to sustainable food and nutrition security should not only respond to emergency food shortages, but should also address—
“(A) chronic malnutrition, including stunting and wasting;
“(B) resilience to food and nutrition insecurity;
“(C) strengthening the capacity of poor, rural populations to improve their agricultural productivity and incomes;
“(D) removing institutional impediments to agricultural development;
“(E) value chain access and efficiency, including processing and storage;
“(F) enhancing agribusiness development;
“(G) access to markets and activities that address the specific needs and barriers facing women, youth, and small-scale producers;
“(H) climate adaptation;
“(I) education; and
“(J) collaborative research and innovation.”.
SEC. 3. Statement of policy objectives; sense of Congress.
Section 3(a) of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9302(a)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking “and economic freedom through the coordination” and inserting “, economic freedom, and security through the phasing, sequencing, and coordination”;
(2) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4) and inserting the following:
“(3) increase the productivity, incomes, and livelihoods of small-scale producers and artisanal fishing communities, especially women, by working across agriculture and food systems, enhancing local capacity to manage agricultural resources and food systems effectively, and expanding producer access to, and participation in, local, regional, and international markets;
“(4) build resilience to agriculture and food systems shocks and stresses, including global food catastrophes in which conventional methods of agriculture are unable to provide sufficient food and nutrition to sustain the global population, among vulnerable populations and households through inclusive growth, while reducing reliance upon emergency food and economic assistance;”;
(3) in paragraph (5) by inserting “, local savings groups, and investment in agricultural research” after “property rights”;
(4) by amending paragraph (6) to read as follows:
“(6) improve the nutritional status of women, adolescent girls, and children, with a focus on reducing child stunting and incidence of wasting, including through the promotion of highly nutritious foods, diet diversification, large-scale food fortification, and nutritional behaviors that improve maternal and child health;”; and
(5) in paragraph (7), by inserting “fragility, resilience,” after “national security,”.
Section 4 of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9303) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (2), by inserting “, including in response to shocks and stresses to food security” before the period at the end;
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through (12) as paragraphs (5) through (13), respectively;
(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
“(4) FOOD SYSTEM.—The term ‘food system’ means the intact or whole unit made up of interrelated components of people, behaviors, relationships, and material goods that interact in the production, processing, packaging, transporting, trade, marketing, consumption, and use of food, feed, and fiber through aquaculture, farming, wild fisheries, forestry, and pastoralism that operates within and is influenced by social, political, economic, and environmental contexts.”;
(4) in paragraph (6)(H), as redesignated—
(A) by inserting “local” before “agricultural”; and
(B) by inserting “youth,” after “small-scale producers,”;
(5) in paragraph (8), as redesignated, by inserting “the Inter-American Foundation,” after “Geological Survey,”;
(6) in paragraph (9), as redesignated—
(A) by inserting “agriculture and food” before “systems”; and
(B) by inserting “, including global food catastrophes,” after “food security”;
(7) in paragraph (10), as redesignated, by striking “fishers” and inserting “artisanal fishing communities”;
(8) in paragraph (13), as redesignated, by striking “agriculture and nutrition security” and inserting “food and nutrition security and agriculture-led economic growth”; and
(9) by inserting after paragraph (13), as redesignated, the following:
“(14) WASTING.—The term ‘wasting’ means—
“(A) a life-threatening condition attributable to poor nutrient intake or disease that is characterized by a rapid deterioration in nutritional status over a short period of time; and
“(B) in the case of children, is characterized by low weight-for-height and weakened immunity, increasing their risk of death due to greater frequency and severity of common infection, particularly when severe.”.
SEC. 5. Comprehensive global food security strategy.
(a) Strategy.—Section 5(a) of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9304(a)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking “country-owned agriculture, nutrition, and food security policy” and inserting “partner country-led agriculture, nutrition, regulatory, food security, and water resources management policy”; and
(2) by amending paragraph (5) to read as follows:
“(5) support the locally led and inclusive development of agriculture and food systems, with small-scale producers, especially women, gaining greater access to the inputs, skills, resource management capacity, networking, bargaining power, financing, market linkages, technology, and information needed to sustainably increase productivity and incomes to reduce extreme poverty and malnutrition, and promote long-term economic prosperity;”;
(A) by inserting “, adolescent girls,” after “women”; and
(B) by inserting “and preventing incidence of wasting” after “reducing child stunting”;
(4) in paragraph (7), by inserting “poor water resource management and” after “including”;
(A) by striking “the long term success of programs” and inserting “long-term impact”; and
(B) by inserting “, including agricultural research capacity,” after “institutions”;
(A) by striking “and nutrition strategies” and inserting “, nutrition strategies, and effective natural resource management approaches”; and
(B) by inserting “adapt,” before “build safety nets”;
(7) by redesignating paragraphs (12) through (17) as paragraphs (13) through (18), respectively;
(8) by striking paragraphs (10) and (11) and inserting the following:
“(10) develop community and producer resilience to disasters and emergencies, including droughts, flooding, pests, and diseases, that adversely impact agricultural yield and livelihoods;
“(11) utilize evidenced-based best practices, including scientific and forecasting data, and improved planning and coordination by, with, and among key partners and relevant Federal departments and agencies to identify, analyze, measure, and mitigate risks, and strengthen resilience capacities;
“(12) harness science, technology, and innovation, including the research and extension activities supported by the private sector, relevant Federal departments and agencies, Feed the Future Innovation Labs or any successor entities, and international and local researchers and innovators, recognizing that significant investments in research and technological advances will be necessary to reduce global poverty, hunger, and malnutrition;”;
(9) in paragraph (14), as redesignated, by inserting “nongovernmental organizations, including” after “civil society,”
(10) in paragraph (17), as redesignated, by striking “and” at the end;
(11) in paragraph (18), as redesignated, by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
(12) by adding at the end the following:
“(19) be periodically updated in a manner that reflects learning and best practices.”.
(b) Periodic updates.—Section 5 of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9304), as amended by subsection (a), is further amended by adding at the end the following:
“(d) Periodic updates.—Not less frequently than quinquennially through fiscal year 2031, the President, in consultation with the head of each relevant Federal department and agency, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees updates to the Global Food Security Strategy required under subsection (a) and the agency-specific plans described in subsection (c)(2).”.
SEC. 6. Authorization of appropriations to implement the Global Food Security Strategy.
Section 6(b) of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9305(b)) is amended by—
(1) striking “$1,000,600,000 for each of fiscal years 2017 through 2023” and inserting “$1,230,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2024 through 2028”; and
(2) by inserting “, which should be prioritized for programs and activities in target countries” before the period at the end.
SEC. 7. Emergency Food Security Program.
(a) Sense of Congress.—Section 7(a) of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9306(a)) is amended to read as follows:
“(a) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that—
“(1) after more than a decade of conflict in Syria and the onset of other major humanitarian emergencies where the provision of certain United States humanitarian assistance has been particularly challenging, including the 2021 crisis in Northern Ethiopia, the 2021 super-typhoon in the Philippines, the 2021 earthquake in Haiti, the 2018 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the ongoing humanitarian disasters in Yemen and South Sudan, and primary and secondary threats from the global COVID–19 pandemic, United States international disaster assistance has become severely stressed;
“(2) Russia’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated existing food insecurity crises around the world, most notably in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Somalia, where more than 750,000 people are at risk for famine, starvation, and death;
“(3) the Russian invasion follows growing global rates of conflict, the COVID–19 pandemic, and increasingly severe climate shocks; and
“(4) the United Stated must continue to enable people who are in crisis to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty.”.
(b) Authorization of appropriations.—Section 492(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2292a(a)) is amended by striking “$2,794,184,000 for each of fiscal years 2017 through 2023, of which up to $1,257,382,000” and inserting “$3,905,460,000 for each of the fiscal years 2024 through 2028, of which up to $1,757,457,000”.
Section 8(a) of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9307(a)) is amended—
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)—
(A) by striking “During each of the first 7 years after the date of the submission of the strategy required under section 5(c)” and inserting “For each of the fiscal years 2024 through 2028”;
(B) by striking “reports that describe” and inserting “a report that describes”; and
(C) by striking “at the end of the reporting period” and inserting “during the preceding year”;
(2) in paragraph (2), by inserting “, including any changes to the target countries selected pursuant to the selection criteria described in section 5(a)(2) and justifications for any such changes” before the semicolon at the end;
(3) in paragraph (3), by inserting “identify and” before “describe”;
(4) by redesignating paragraphs (12) through (14) as paragraphs (15) through (17), respectively;
(5) by redesignating paragraphs (5) through (11) as paragraphs (7) through (13), respectively;
(6) by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following:
“(4) identify and describe the priority quantitative metrics used to establish baselines and performance targets at the initiative, account, country, and zone of influence levels;
“(5) identify such established baselines and performance targets at the account, country, and zone of influence levels;
“(6) identify the output and outcome benchmarks and indicators used to measure results annually, and report the annual measurement of results for each of the priority metrics identified pursuant to paragraph (4), broken down by age, gender, and disability, to the extent practicable and appropriate, in an open and transparent manner that is accessible to the American people;”;
(7) in paragraph (7), as redesignated, by striking “agriculture” and inserting “food”;
(8) in paragraph (8), as redesignated—
(A) by inserting “quantitative and qualitative” after “how”; and
(B) by inserting “at the initiative, account, country, and zone of influence levels, including longitudinal data and key uncertainties” before the semicolon at the end;
(9) in paragraph (9), as redesignated, by inserting “within target countries, amounts and justification for any spending outside of target countries” after “amounts spent”;
(10) in paragraph (13), as redesignated—
(A) by striking “and the impact of private sector investment” and inserting “and efforts to encourage financial donor burden sharing and the impact of such investment and efforts”;
(11) by inserting after paragraph (13), as redesignated, the following:
“(14) describe how agriculture research is prioritized within the Global Food Security Strategy to support sustainable, agriculture-led growth and eventual self-sufficiency and assess efforts to coordinate research programs within the Global Food Security Strategy with key stakeholders;”;
(12) in paragraph (16), as redesignated, by striking “and” at the end;
(13) in paragraph (17), as redesignated—
(A) by inserting “, including key missteps,” after “lessons learned”; and
(B) by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
(14) by adding at the end the following:
“(18) during the final year of each strategy required under section 5, complete country graduation reports to determine whether a country should remain a target country based on quantitative and qualitative analysis.”.