WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: Long before the December 26 tsunami devastated communities throughout South and Southeastern Asia, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and other agencies delivering nutritional services to the poor worldwide expressed their increasing concern that U.S.-sponsored global food assistance programs were in jeopardy. Funding for food aid programs has not kept up with demands caused by unanticipated natural disasters and wars such as a locust plague in West Africa, flooding in Bangladesh and the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. Now the tsunami has left millions homeless and has only exacerbated the need for more U.S. food aid.

Click here to take action now! Send President Bush a message today urging him to increase food aid funding. Then, click here to find out if your Senators and Representative support more food aid to address global emergencies and thank them for their support by sending a message from our website
www.crs.org/actioncenter.cfm.

As faithful citizens we are called to help ensure that the U.S. government uses its significant wealth and influence to improve the lives of the poor worldwide, especially to meet basic needs such as food. The Catholic Churchs social teaching is rooted in the fundamental dignity of every human life. As the U.S. Catholic Bishops recently stated in For I was Hungry and You Gave Me Food, the right to food is a basic right because it is required to sustain life and to live a truly human existence.

BACKGROUND: In a recent letter to President Bush, Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) along with 41 of their colleagues expressed their support for increased funding for food aid programs to help the tsunami victims in South Asia as well as to address the food aid shortfall generated by pre-existing emergency assistance needs in Africa and elsewhere in the world. In the House, a similar letter organized by Representatives Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO, 8th) and Ike Skelton (D-MO, 4th) collected 94 signatures. Previous letters sent to the Administration by both the Senate and House encouraged an immediate release of more resources from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT), a food reserve intended for unanticipated food shortages in poor countries.

CRS applauds those Senators and Representatives (see a detailed list below) for their leadership to address the urgent need for more food aid. We now urge President Bush to ensure that adequate funding for food aid is included in his FY 2006 budget request, the emergency supplemental appropriations bill and that resources from the BEHT are immediately released to meet emergency needs worldwide.

TAKE ACTION NOW! Click here to contact President Bush and encourage him to act on the letters he has received from Congress regarding the food aid crisis. Urge him to ensure that:

More food aid is released from the BEHT to address immediate emergency food needs worldwide. The FY2006 budget request he will submit to Congress includes robust funding for food aid. The emergency supplemental appropriations bill he submits to Congress includes:

$650 million to meet the food aid shortfall for non-Tsunami needs worldwide.
$300 million to replenish the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.

$70 million to address food aid needs in countries affected by the tsunami.

Please also contact your Senators and Representatives listed here and thank them for their support of increased food aid. To contact your elected officials or to send a message today, visit our website

www.crs.org/actioncenter.cfm, or contact Tina Rodousakis 1-800-235-2772 x 7462.

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP:

77 Share this action alert with your family, friends, and fellow parishioners.

77 Learn, discuss, and pray about global issues that affect the poor and how our advocacy efforts can make a difference. Visit our website www.crs.org/grassroots.cfm for educational, action, and prayer resources.

77 Contribute to CRS efforts. Visit our website http://www.crs.org/ or call (800) 736-3467 to make a gift today.

77 Sign up for CRS legislative network www.crs.org/legislativenetwork.cfm!

For further information contact:

Tina Rodousakis, Legislative Network Specialist, 1-800-235-2772 x 7462; trodousa@catholicrelief.org

Catholic Relief Services' advocacy efforts flow from the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, especially the call to protect the dignity of people, uphold rights and responsibilities, safeguard the common good and to act in solidarity with people in poverty.