 Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to say thank you to all of you for coming today. We're delighted to have you here. My name is John Hamry. I'm the president of CSIS, and we are using this as an opportunity for the launch of what we think is a very important study on food security. Before I begin, let me just say a sincere thank you to Representative McCollum and to Senator Luger for joining us today. I know that Senator Casey will be here shortly. Obviously, think tanks are out there all over the place trying to launch studies. And it's like casting bread on the water. I mean, most of it disappears. But when you're able to get members of Congress who are willing to take time and to embrace an issue, it gives an enormous opportunity for us. And I would like to say thank you to both of you for putting this issue in front of the American public in such a dramatic way. I would guess I'm like everyone here this morning when I woke up and thought about food, I was thinking more about my weight problem than I was thinking about nourishment. And yet there are far too many people in the world that when they wake up the morning thinking about food is a life or death issue. We don't think about that in this country. We're so very rich and well fed that we don't tend to think about how the terribly large proportion of the world has to think about food every day in ways we don't. When we first started this project, this was several years ago, that we launched it. And we launched it at a time when we felt that America had been too narrowly focused on thinking about its power in the world in strictly military terms. And military terms are important, but there's such a narrow dimension to the power of America. And there's such a much larger power. It's the moral authority that came with America's generosity and creativity and leadership during the 50s and the 60s. When we had things like food for peace, it was a remarkable thing. And we thought this is a chance. This is an opportunity. America could rediscover itself. What it really values about itself and do good things in the world. And so we wanted to launch this. And of course having a chance to partner with people like Senator Lugar, Representative McCollum is a huge opportunity because that puts it in the national agenda. And so I just would like to say thank you to both of you for taking the time. Just not a one of you is going to get any votes for this. But people's lives are going to be changed. And that has to be our satisfaction. Thank you for that. Representative McCollum, let me begin with you. I know by the way, friends and colleagues, we have a short window because of the start of the session this morning. And so we're going to begin very quickly and let them go through some remarks. If there is time, we'll field a few questions. And then we will then move to the second part of the program. But I especially want to say thank you to all of you for coming. We have to keep this issue forward in the American intellect. And I'm counting on all of you to help with that. Thank you. Oh, here's Senator Casey. Representative McCollum, monitoring. Good morning. I'd like to first give a very special greeting. I see Senator Luger quite often in the mornings when we get together bipartisanly to learn about a lot of international and foreign relations affairs. So it's good to see him. And good morning, sir. I'd like to thank this great team, the Center for Strategic International Studies. I'm going to mention a couple names here. Joanna Tuttle, Steve Morrison, Christina Wedding, and Brett Baptist. These are the people who did all the hard work of organizing the task force and finalizing the report. And having been on another task force, I do know how hard you guys all work. So thank you. My fellow co-chairs with me here today, Senators Luger and Casey, are strong leaders over here, as we like to say in the other body, for the fight against hunger. And they're great partners in working to pass the Global Food Security Act. But I have been made aware that there's a Minnesotan in the crowd. So I'd like to recognize Phil Parde, Professor Parde from the University of Minnesota-St. Paul campus. He's with us here this morning, right in front of me. And a wonderful resource to have you here. And I look forward to picking your brain over the next couple of months as we learn to be even more effective because of your expertise in this area. Well, two years have passed already since the global food crisis grabbed headlines around the world. Remember? Lines, food riots, a lot of angst all across the world. In a matter of weeks, high energy and food prices even made things worse. Food became unaffordable and unavailable for hundreds and millions of people. Unfortunately, the global food crisis was no surprise for the one billion people, as John mentioned, who wake up every morning suffering from chronic hunger. One in six people living this planet are in a constant state of crisis due to food insecurity. They're struggling to live before the world woke up to their plight in 2008, and they continue to struggle today. Hunger is a scale. At this level is a threat to all of us, but it's also a terrible injustice. And it undermines U.S. foreign investment interests, and we know that can destabilize countries. Important progress has been made since CSIS released its first report on global food security in the midst of the 2008 crisis. President Obama and Secretary Clinton are working with Congress to significantly increase U.S. bilateral funding for agriculture development and nutrition. The U.S. agriculture development funding increased from 375 million in 2009 to over one billion in fiscal year 2010. Now, we know this problem is far too big for any one country alone to tackle, and that's why President Obama has made global food security the focus of the last G8 meeting in Italy. So far, he's secured $22 billion in global pledges to help countries strengthen their agriculture systems and small farmers be able to boost their productivity. The new CSIS report recognizes that significant progress has been made, but this report is especially valuable because it also calls to attention all the unworked, all the undone work that we still have to focus on. It reminds us that many of the underlying causes of the food crisis have yet to be addressed. Populations continue to rise in developing countries. Fuel prices pushed by, excuse me, I've got the pollen throat. Food prices pushed lower by the recession are climbing again, and policies on biofuels and trade in the developing countries contribute to the crisis have largely been ignored. We're not changing those three dynamics that I just spoke of. Every one of us in this room is committed to fight against hunger and under nutrition. Our challenge is to recapture the sense of urgency that motivated the world to respond in 2008. Promises have been exchanged, pledges have been made, and plans have been drafted. We've all seen this before, but this time it must be different. It has to be different. Words must become actions, and actions must be sustained and comprehensive. The work of CSIS and its partners is another positive step. You have my commitment to keep fighting to put on endocrinic hunger, and there are a lot of people counting on us, and I'm very anxious for you to continue your work, and I look forward to working with both of my colleagues over here in the Senate to make those words not just empty rhetoric, but hard action. Thank you. Thank you, Representative McCullum. You've concretely advanced that with the introduction of the food security bill in the House. We're very grateful for that. Both Senator Luger and Senator Casey jointly have introduced the food security bill here in the Senate, and let me first, neither of these gentlemen need introductions, but let me just say on a very personal note I've had the chance to work with Senator Luger for quite a few years. He's tolerated me and invited me to be a little bit player in the large drama that he's created here in the Senate where he's done such remarkable things in foreign policy and security, and I'm very grateful you're willing to make this a part of it, sir. Let me turn to you for your remarks. Well, it's a privilege to work with our colleague, Congressman McCullum, and with Senator Bob Casey. It's a bipartisan bicameral bill, and I think that's an important statement, this particular point of the politics of our life, and I thank John Hamry, especially, for his very thoughtful introduction, and I want to congratulate him, as all of you will, on his 10-year anniversary in leading the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The work of CSIS in convening experts and producing thoughtful analysis on important issues has been and continues to be of great value to policymakers. The release of this report, building a long-term commitment to global food security, is just the latest example. This is the second CSIS report on food security, which I've had the pleasure of serving as a co-chair. The first report, a call for a strategic U.S. approach to the global food crisis, was one of the first studies that emerged following the 2007 and 2008 food price spikes. It persuasively analyzed the causes and consequences of a case-long neglect of agriculture and hunger issues around the world. The report being released today centers on the importance of boosting farm productivity to meet an expected doubling in the demand for food by the year 2050. It stresses the critical need for investing in agricultural research through university systems, through extension services, and national agricultural research systems. It pays special attention to the role of global trade in increasing food security and income security for everyone. On just last week, the Senate Formulations Committee held a hearing on global food security. Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew told us, ensuring people are fed, and I quote, is not just about food, it is all about security, national security, economic security, environmental security, and human security, end of quote from the Secretary. Indeed, chronic hunger and poverty deeply affect international stability because hunger fuels social disintegration and local conflicts and extremism. More than one billion people live with chronic hunger, and unless we act, this problem will continue to be much more severe. Growing populations, urbanization, changing diets, stresses on water, energy uncertainty, all will complicate our ability to prevent food price volatility and to expand food self-sufficiency. Of the many studies examining the issue of global food security, including those of the Senate Formulations Committee, think tanks like CSIS and the administration's own Feeding the Future Initiative, all have concluded it's imperative for nations to act now. International donors have pledged $22 billion over the next three years to promote food security. Likewise, developing countries are working to prioritize strategies for revitalizing rural development and agriculture. Dr. Raj Shah, Administrator of USAID, said at our hearing last week, and I quote, the global momentum is great. The advances in technology and research have been powerful and the sharing of information in real time is opening new avenues and efficiencies that can make our investments more strategic than ever before. I believe we're at a unique moment in history to make a tremendous change in agricultural productivity, hunger, and under nutrition, end of quote. Now this speaks to a welcome and significant partnership among many stakeholders to solve a problem that will affect all of this if we don't seize this opportunity to act. Equally significant is that by partisan collaboration here in Washington, encompassing the House and Senate, the administration, and many non-governmental organizations working in the field. It's been a real pleasure to join with my colleagues, Senator Bob Casey, Representative Betty McCollum in drafting the Global Food Security Act. This bill would reorient US foreign assistance to support proven strategies in addressing hunger. We're pleased the administration is working with us to bring the bill before the House and Senate for passage. This level of bipartisan cooperation across branches points to the significance of the issue. We are in reach of unified government action on the difficult issue of food security. The importance of US leadership cannot be understated. Without it, wealthy countries would not have pledged $22 billion in assistance to food insecure countries. Without US leadership, some may not stay the course. Facing a previous crisis in food security, the United States was the forefront of the Green Revolution and has a powerful impact in Asia and Latin America. Going forward, we can harness the expertise of the scientific, educational, and agricultural communities to create a second Green Revolution. I again thank CSIS for its important report and for all of you who have come here today to share these goals and have worked to promote food security for many years. I look forward to our continued collaboration to pass a Global Food Security Act and implement the Feeding the Future Initiative. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so much, Senator Luger. It's always inspiring to have you with us, and I'm very grateful. We're very, very grateful to have Senator Bob Casey with us on this project. Senator Casey, of course, came to the Senate from a very distinguished career in Pennsylvania. And when he came, he's on the Agriculture Committee and on the Foreign Relations Committee. It would be natural for him to express an interest in this question, but it really springs much more from a very deep humanity that he brings with him to the Senate. He's been a leading advocate for child care development programs, for health care, for children, for example. So it springs from a deep compassion. And he's brought that to this project with us. Thank you so much, Senator. We look forward to your remarks today. Well, John, thank you very much for your introduction and for your leadership, and the leadership by so many people in this room, and especially those who have any connection to or provide support for CSIS. We're grateful for that, because it's critically important that we have leadership on such a compelling and urgent issue outside the walls of these office buildings in the Capitol, because we can't do it on our own. There's so much public policy and intellectual and research infrastructure that's provided by people in this room, and we're grateful. And John, I want to thank you for your leadership, and especially for bringing us together today on this issue. Once again, Senator Lugar and Congresswoman McCollum, we're grateful to be part of this team. And as Dick Lugar said, it is unusual these days to have something that is both an urgent priority plus something that has bipartisan and bicameral support that doesn't happen too often around here. I guess we come to this meeting today, and we come to this issue summoned by our conscience, the conscience that nags at us for, in some cases, people in this room for many, many years. When we hear statistics like every five seconds a child in the world dies from malnutrition. And what that means, increasingly and significantly, that the numbers relate more to women and children than they do to men. But we know the number, when you get to a billion people, you're affecting everyone. But especially when it comes to women across the world and children. So I think we are summoned by our conscience, because it is a humanitarian issue first and foremost. But secondly, but importantly, this is a security issue. We know that the world is less secure if there are more hungry people across the world. We know that the terrorism is likely to increase if we have high numbers of those who are food insecure. So we know that instability is a consequence of malnutrition and hunger. And instability is bad for all kinds of reasons. Not the most obvious reason that it leads to violence and death, but that it also means that we have to focus on strategies to deal with instability, that alone, the time and the effort and the resources alone. But I do believe that in addition to the obvious security issue that we are confronted with, this is mostly about how we're going to deal with God's children and what that means to our own common humanity. And we don't have a magic wand here, but we do have a piece of legislation that allows us to create a focus in the White House, a focus in the Congress, and an investment in a new strategy, not just the old strategy of providing more aid and more resources. That's been a wonderful benefit to the people of the world. But this bill allows us to chart a new course and in some ways to strengthen the relationship between the Congress and the administration and taxpayers. Because too often taxpayers say to us, we send money to Washington for this or that program. We don't see enough good results. We don't see the benefit. This is one of those instances where in addition to supporting this for all the right reasons, we can also make it very clear to taxpayers that we have a strategy that will work, that will feed hungry people, that will reduce instances where or reduce the likelihood, I should say, of further instability in the world at a time when we sorely need that. So I believe that we have not just the right policy and the right strategy, but we also now have some momentum. We have a president of the United States who is committed to this. That alone is a brand new chapter in recent American history. And that should help and is already helping enormously. We have momentum. The president has made this a priority. The Secretary of State, Secretary of State Clinton has made this a priority. The entire administration has evidence by their strategy and their plan, but also by the testimony that we heard last week from Jack Lew and Dr. Shaw. So we do have momentum, but we know that good policy and momentum and good intentions aren't enough. We have to get into the trenches of the legislative process again to get this passed and not allow anything to get in the way. That is easier said than done, but I have no doubt with both the Congresswoman's help in the House and so many others in the House who are working with her and Dick Luger's help here in the Senate. Few people in the Senate command the kind of respect and I think affection, but especially respect as Dick Luger. And at this time when we have a difficult, toxic political environment, we're darn lucky to have Dick Luger on our team leading us and fighting for us on this issue. I'll leave you with one more thought. There are people across the world who in those billion people who are truly hungry and truly hurting. I can't even begin to fathom or comprehend the pain that that causes to an individual and his or her family. So as we're thinking of them and fighting for them, I also think of those who have had a different kind of hunger. Those of you who have been trying to get legislation like this or something similar to this past, you have your own kind of hunger for better policy and better results and more help for the vulnerable. So I'm thinking of that line from the Beatitudes. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied. And this is a matter of basic justice, I believe, for the world and for our common humanity. So let that be our inspiration as we continue to fight the battle of getting this past and then making sure that we deliver the kind of justice to those who are in food insecure situations around the world. Thank you for your work. Ladies and gentlemen, let's thank these three leaders for their work.