Congressman Sander Levin

Dear Mr. President-Elect:

As you determine how to structure your Administration and promote your priorities, we strongly urge you to immediately designate a high-level White House position to design, implement and oversee a government-wide comprehensive strategy to address global hunger and food security.  

A White House-led body charged with rapidly devising and overseeing a comprehensive, long-term strategic vision on global food security would ensure that U.S. approaches and policies are better linked and supportive of ending global food insecurity.  It would ensure that U.S. executive departments and agencies develop an integrated government-wide strategy that defines actions and resources, enhances collaboration with other nations and donors, and improves measures by which your Administration can monitor U.S. progress and achievements in the international effort to halve hunger by 2015 and promote local, national and regional food security in the developing world.

Global food security has been a focus of U.S. and international attention throughout 2008, in part because of the crisis brought on by rising commodity and fuel prices.  This crisis also provides you with the opportunity to make global food security a policy priority.   The urgency of a White House-based and -led initiative to create and implement a comprehensive strategy on global food security has been detailed in two recent reports, which we commend to you and your transition team – namely, the May 2008 study by the Government Accountability Office on International Food Security (GAO-08-680) and the July 2008 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, A Call for a Strategic U.S. Approach to the Global Food Crisis.

President Bush and the 110th Congress took many steps on which you can build to improve U.S. emergency and longer-term response to the food security crisis. Yet many of our policies, programs, resources and approaches remain fragmented.  A White House global hunger and food security “czar” will help provide the leadership and vision necessary to meet and address both the current and chronic roots of hunger and food insecurity.

As you can see, we are united in making this bipartisan recommendation to you, and in that same spirit, working with you in confronting global hunger and food security.   Please feel free to call upon us as you make this a high priority of your Administration.

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