US Lawmakers Push for Global Food Aid Funding as UN Warns of Famine

US Lawmakers Push for Global Food Aid Funding as UN Warns of Famine

The United States must increase food aid to prevent millions of people starving as Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens global grain supplies, members of the US Senate's bipartisan hunger caucus said.

Congress passed $13 billion in aid for Ukraine on March 9, but the $2.65 billion earmarked in the package for food and other humanitarian aid does not go far enough to address food shortages globally, the Senators say.

They will seek billions more dollars as part of any future COVID-19 or Ukraine relief bill, a Congressional staffer with knowledge of the plans said.

"Democrats and Republicans in Congress need to quickly come together and approve emergency global food aid in order to prevent tens of millions of people, including millions of children, from dying of starvation," Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, told Reuters.

The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) says it is facing a $9 billion funding shortfall. Before the invasion, 44 million people in 38 countries were on the brink of famine, according to the agency.

Now, the flood of refugees from Ukraine and disruptions to the country´s spring planting season threaten to drive worldwide hunger to "catastrophic" levels, WFP executive director David Beasley said.

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