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Obama administration to try to push Feed the Future bills

2014_0929_IFDC_Shah International Fertilizer Development Center President and CEO Amit Roy, left, talks with U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah during a celebration of the Muscle Shoals, Ala.-based institution today in Washington. (Jerry Hagstom/The Hagstrom Report)


The Obama administration will try to convince Congress during the lame-duck session to pass legislation giving its Feed the Future program permanent authorization, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah told The Hagstrom Report today.

The Obama administration launched Feed the Future, its signature foreign agriculture development initiative, using executive authority but advocates for the initiative want Congress to make it a permanent part of the USAID program so that a future administration could not end it.

Following an appearance at the International Fertilizer Development Center 40th anniversary celebration, Shah said the administration “will try” to build on the recent bipartisan introduction of the House and Senate bills to provide permanent authorization.

Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Betty McCollum, D-Minn., introduced the House bill. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., Mike Johanns, R-Neb., Chris Coons, D-Del., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., sponsored the Senate bill.

In what organizers of the fertilizer event called a dialogue, Shah said he considered the introduction of those measures to be a “transformational moment” in agricultural development policy.

Shah did not discuss the bills in detail nor note the differences between them or the challenges of passing key legislation in a lame-duck session.

The two bills are not exactly alike, but “are very similar in purpose,” according to an analyss who has looked at the legislation.

“Both bills call for the USAID administrator to coordinate a whole-of-government approach mirroring that which exists under the current Feed the Future initiative,” the analyst said.

Additionally, both bills represent findings depicting the current challenge of global hunger along with the results of existing Feed the Future activities.”

“Some differences that exist include reporting and oversight requirements,” the analyst added.

“For instance, the Senate version provides mandatory reporting requirements while the House version provides flexibility on reporting requirements. The Senate text also calls for a Government Accountability Office review [while the House does not.] Finally, both versions authorize appropriations at the 2014 level; the Senate authorizes through 2020 while the House through 2017.”

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has said she would want to make sure the legislation covers all agencies involved in agriculture, private companies and the nongovernmental sector.