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Urgent: Farm Bill Can Help End Food Crisis

Target: U.S. Congress
Sponsored by: Oxfam America

BREAKING NEWS, 16 MAY 2008: The Farm Bill has now passed both in the House and Senate. Thank you to everyone spoke out on this issue.

The world is faced with a global food crisis. The prices of wheat, rice, and maize are skyrocketing.

Don't let Congress pass up a major opportunity to help address the food crisis by shifting payments for wealthy farmers to desperately needed funding to help the hungry around the world. Congress is in final negotiations on the Farm Bill and this legislation could make a difference. Some farmers making up to a million dollars a year receive support from the farm bill, but the poor affected by the food crisis do not. Does that sound right to you?

The farm bill could come to a final vote as early as Wednesday, May 14. Your urgent action is required!

Even a small cut in subsidies to rich farmers could provide funds to help millions who are hungry. Poor people around the world cannot wait any longer. Please tell Congress to address the food crisis today.

deadline: Ongoing...
goal: 10,000

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I am writing to request your urgent action to address the spiraling food crisis affecting poor countries around the world. Recent food price shocks highlight the need for immediate actions to address the growing food insecurity in developing countries.

As the donor for nearly half the world's food aid, the US has a special role to play in responding to the current situation. That is why we urge you to make the Farm Bill a more effective vehicle to help address world hunger. We would like to draw your attention to two issues that would help address the global hunger crisis.

First, support the Administration's initiative to shift one quarter of US food aid to local and regional procurement. Making the US food aid program more flexible and faster will save taxpayer dollars and feed more hungry people.
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Second, remove the so-called "hard earmark"-or provide a workable waiver-so that food aid funds can be shifted from non-emergency aid in the event of emergencies. Both the House and Senate versions of the Farm Bill included measures to prohibit the shifting of funds within the food aid budget. While the rationale behind this measure is fundamentally sound, to protect development oriented food aid programs, the impact could be disastrous if it means that funds would not be available in the case of emergencies.

Tens of millions of people rely on American food aid to survive. Americans should be proud of this critical contribution to addressing global hunger. But Congress needs to ensure that our food aid programs are as efficient and effective as possible. Permitting the use of local purchase and shifting of funds within the food aid budget would help in this regard.

I thank you for your consideration.
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Sincerely,
[Your name here]

We took action on “Urgent: Farm Bill Can Help End Food Crisis”!

# 50:

1:30 pm PDT, May 9, Claudia Schlefstein, Florida

# 49:

1:29 pm PDT, May 9, Robert Baum, North Carolina

# 48:

1:29 pm PDT, May 9, Adriana Baltazar, Illinois

# 47:

1:29 pm PDT, May 9, Samantha Eldridge, Illinois

# 46:

1:28 pm PDT, May 9, Alva Crom, Minnesota

# 45:

1:28 pm PDT, May 9, Renee Babcock, Vermont

# 44:

1:27 pm PDT, May 9, Name not displayed, California

# 43:

1:26 pm PDT, May 9, Dacia Dyer, Colorado

# 42:

1:24 pm PDT, May 9, Carl Stephenson, Minnesota

# 41:

1:22 pm PDT, May 9, Serge Beaucage, Canada

# 40:

1:21 pm PDT, May 9, Kendell Beverly, California

# 39:

1:20 pm PDT, May 9, Karen Thickman, PhD, Pennsylvania

# 38:

1:19 pm PDT, May 9, Karisha Kirk, Indiana

# 37:

1:18 pm PDT, May 9, Van Chisolm, Maryland

# 36:

1:18 pm PDT, May 9, Paul J Sabo Jr, Connecticut
Its just humane to treat every thing with the respect they deserve. For people not to have food to eat when in other areas of the world food is wasted and thrown away not hardely eaten is a shame and those people should think about what their doing with food.

# 35:

1:16 pm PDT, May 9, Teresa Fantasia, California
It is not right to stand by and watch a country starve to death. We must act now! The food aid that is being sent is not going to help unless it is reached by the people in a timely manner. Aid must be flexible and faster.

# 34:

1:16 pm PDT, May 9, Keith Allen Haviland Barbo, Pennsylvania

# 33:

1:15 pm PDT, May 9, Jacquelyn DiNovo, New York

# 32:

1:15 pm PDT, May 9, Isabelle Taylor, North Carolina

# 31:

1:13 pm PDT, May 9, Janelle Brown, California

# 30:

1:10 pm PDT, May 9, Rachel Rachfal, Maryland

# 29:

1:09 pm PDT, May 9, Jennifer Robins, California

# 28:

1:08 pm PDT, May 9, Amanda De Jesus, New Jersey

# 27:

1:07 pm PDT, May 9, Robert Stockstill, California

# 26:

1:07 pm PDT, May 9, John Ruscigno, New York
Help the Hungry of this World!

# 25:

1:03 pm PDT, May 9, H. Austin Hall, Pennsylvania

# 24:

1:03 pm PDT, May 9, Paula Chihill, North Carolina

# 23:

1:02 pm PDT, May 9, Joanne Arfanis, Connecticut

# 22:

1:01 pm PDT, May 9, Grigoria Malkotzoglou, Greece

# 21:

1:01 pm PDT, May 9, Janet Krouskop, Washington

# 20:

1:01 pm PDT, May 9, Pk Cline, Indiana

# 18:

1:01 pm PDT, May 9, William Scott, Pennsylvania

# 17:

1:01 pm PDT, May 9, Ellouise Pritchett, Florida
Letting people die of hunger is tantamount to murder - especially when we are spending so much on an ill-advised war we can't win. Get your priorities straight...get out of Iraq and divert some of that money to help feed the starving.

# 16:

1:00 pm PDT, May 9, David Lawrence, Oregon
Let us become known as a nation that emphasizes sustainable techniques for production of food for the economically disadvantaged people of the world.

# 15:

12:59 pm PDT, May 9, Barry Spielvogel, New York

# 14:

12:59 pm PDT, May 9, Lesley Zambrano, Illinois

# 13:

12:59 pm PDT, May 9, Bruce Vogel, Kentucky

# 12:

12:59 pm PDT, May 9, Lisa Gosnell, Delaware

# 11:

12:59 pm PDT, May 9, Norma J F Harrison, California

# 10:

12:58 pm PDT, May 9, Stephanie Harmon, Washington D.C.

# 9:

12:58 pm PDT, May 9, Edward Rubin, Massachusetts

# 8:

12:57 pm PDT, May 9, Wally Bubelis, Washington

# 7:

12:57 pm PDT, May 9, Nicole Quigley, Oklahoma

# 6:

12:56 pm PDT, May 9, Brian Guadagno, New Jersey

# 5:

12:55 pm PDT, May 9, Ken Hittel, New York

# 4:

12:54 pm PDT, May 9, Kathryn Melton, Texas

# 3:

12:54 pm PDT, May 9, Catherine Bolten, California
There is no logical or financial reason not to improve the Farm Bill to make it more responsible to the world-wide food crisis.

# 2:

12:53 pm PDT, May 9, Tyler Rud, Minnesota

# 1:

12:52 pm PDT, May 9, Leah Lefler, Virginia

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