Cause for Hope on World Food Day

Bread for the World
Saturday, 16 October 1999

Congress and President Take Major Steps Against Hunger and Poverty

Statement by David Beckmann
President of Bread for the World

This year's World Food Day comes during a year of significant global focus on hunger and poverty.

The worldwide Jubilee movement has been working to relieve the debt that traps millions of people in the world's poorest countries in a cycle of hunger and poverty. Debt relief is hunger relief. Countries strained by heavy, unpayable debts are not able to meet their people's basic needs.

Last month the Jubilee campaign got a significant boost when President Clinton asked Congress to appropriate $970 million for debt relief over four years. Major legislation is pending in both houses of Congress that would cancel much of the poor-country debt owed to the United States. Each measure also contains provisions to ensure that the savings from debt relief will go toward poverty reduction and sustainable growth.

On October 5, Senator Connie Mack (R-FL) introduced S.1690, the Debt Relief for Poor Countries Act, with the wide-ranging support of colleagues from both sides of the aisle. In the House, the Banking Committee and International Relations Committee are scheduled to mark up companion legislation, HR 1095, the Debt Relief for Poverty Reduction Act in the near future.

In Africa, governments are sending four times more to international creditors than they spend on education, according to the United Nations Development Program. Children die from preventable malnutrition and disease because their governments are forced to cut funding for health clinics just to pay interest on the debt.

For more information, or to contact Bread for the World, see their website at: www.bread.org