Bush pledges $816 million to fight hunger

from the Sydney Morning Herald

US President George Bush has urged Congress to approve $US770 million ($816.8 million) in new aid to cope with soaring food prices that have left many hungry and fuelled angry protests around the world.

"With the new international funding I'm announcing today, we're sending a clear message to the world that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come," he said in a hastily called public appearance on Thursday.

Warning that "more needs to be done," Mr Bush said the monies would be in addition to another $US200 million the White House freed up earlier this month and urged the United States Congress to act "as soon as possible."

"In some of the world's poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food," he said, as millions of workers around the world made soaring food prices their May Day battle cry.

"The American people are generous people and compassionate people. We believe in the timeless truth, to whom much is given, much is expected," said the US president.

Administration officials said the $770 million would include $395 million in emergency food aid, $225 million for food vouchers, seeds, or aid purchases in the developing world, and $150 million for development work aimed at food security.

That will help "improve the ability of the developing world to feed itself," said Stephen McMillin, a top budget official.

If approved by Congress, the funds would become available on October 1, and would bring overall support for global food security to $2.66 billion for 2009.

The announcement comes several weeks after Mr Bush approved the release of 250,000 tonnes of wheat from an emergency crop trust, a step the US had not taken since 2005.

Experts blame soaring prices on a confluence of factors, including trade restrictions; increased demand from a changing diet in Asia; poor growing weather; rising use of biofuels that rely on staples like corn; and soaring fuel prices that make transporting foodstuffs more expensive.

The World Bank said last month that a doubling of food prices over the past three years could push 100 million people in poorer developing countries further into poverty.

The Bank, which launched a "New Deal" to fight hunger, estimated that 33 countries were threatened with political and social unrest because of the skyrocketing costs of food and energy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged in a statement that politicians "will respond rapidly to the growing urgent need for international food assistance," though she did not explicitly mention Mr Bush's request.

In the US, rising food costs have piled on top of other woes battering the world's richest economy, including skyrocketing petrol prices and a jump in housing foreclosures amid a mortgage crisis.

"At home, we are working to ensure that the neediest among us can cope with the rising food prices," Mr Bush said, citing gradual increases in government aid since he took office in 2001 and emergency bumps this year.

The new monies are in a $US70 billion spending measure that includes funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was sent to Congress on Thursday.

Mr Bush said the US was on track to spend nearly $US5 billion in 2008 and 2009 to battle global hunger, and stressed that other wealthy countries needed to step up their contributions to the fight.