“There are some things that are worth doing,” Hall said. “And this is worth doing.”
Hall, who served in the U.S. House for more than two decades before leaving his seat in 2002, warned that a temporary spending measure passed by the House earlier this year would cut by 50 percent an international food program named after former Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern. Hall said the proposed cuts would eliminate feeding programs for 18 million people in the world.
“Let’s be clear what this means,” Hall said. “They are already hungry and malnourished. A lot of them will not make it.”
“We want to remind Americans this is happening,” he said. “We want to focus attention on the effect these budget cuts will have on these vulnerable people.”
Hall said there is “no question we need to address the deficit,” which could exceed $1.5 trillion this year. But, he said, “You don’t cut the most vulnerable because they didn’t cause the deficit.”
Hall said about 2.5 billion people in the world live on less than $2 a day and about 50 million Americans live in what he calls “food-insecure homes,” meaning they go to bed hungry at least two or three times a month.
The Alliance to End Hunger is a faith-based organization.
After leaving Congress, Hall served from 2002 through 2006 as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.
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