The Global Food Security Act of 2016 (GFSA), S.1252, passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by voice vote this morning.
GFSA, as amended during the mark-up, requires a whole-of-government strategy to guide U.S. global food and nutrition security efforts to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. It focuses on small-scale producers and women, rigorous evaluation of results, and building the cross-sectoral partnerships necessary to sustained progress against hunger and undernutrition. GFSA also creates the Emergency Food Response Fund, which continues the current use of the International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account to respond to emergencies where food assistance is needed quickly.
CHC would like to thank Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Corker (R-TN) and Ranking Member Cardin (D-MD), as well as the lead cosponsors Sens. Isakson (R-GA) and Casey (D-PA) for their bipartisan leadership on this important legislation. We are also grateful to Sens. Coons (D-DE), Collins (R-ME), Durbin (D-IL), Feinstein (D-CA), Boozman (R-AR), Rubio (R-FL), Whitehouse (D-RI), Kirk (R-IL), and Gillibrand (D-NY) for their cosponsorship of S.1252.