Issue: S. 1252 Global Food Security Act of 2016. Question: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass (2/3 vote required).
Result: Passed in House, 369 to 53, 11 not voting. (The Senate passed the Act earlier by voice vote!) Became Public Law 114-195 (signed by the President, 7-20-16). GOP and Democrats scored.
Freedom First Society: S. 1252 requires the President to develop and implement a “Global Food Security Strategy” to coordinate U.S. assistance programs. According to the Congressional Research Service, ostensible objectives include: “place food insecure countries on a path toward self-sufficiency and economic freedom … increase the productivity, incomes, and livelihoods of small-scale producers … improve the nutritional status of women and children.”
Such a federal assumption of responsibility is patently unconstitutional. In fact, foreign aid programs are unconstitutional. The U.S. government has no authority to force taxpayers to feed the rest of the world or even help the world feed itself.
We have assigned (good vote) to the Nays and (bad vote) to the Yeas. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)
Bill Summary: In addition to the above, the Global Food Security Act, provides the following:
(Sec. 6) To carry out the strategy, the President may provide assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to prevent or address food shortages.
(Sec. 7) This section …. amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to provide emergency food assistance (including funds, transfers, vouchers, and agricultural commodities) acquired through local or regional procurement to meet emergency food needs arising from manmade and natural disasters.” [Emphasis ours.]
Analysis: A charitable pretense is used to justify such unconstitutional assumption of responsibility. For further support, we are told that it is in the U.S. national security interest for the federal government to promote global food security, resilience, and nutrition.
Unfortunately, the humanitarian and national security pretenses are a smokescreen for subversive Internationalist designs. Ever since World War II, the U.S. State Department has worked to destabilize pro-Western regimes, while supporting socialist revolutions and dictators, precisely the opposite of what nations need to become economically self sufficient.
There are myriad examples of State’s subversive interventions, such as the efforts to oust the Shah of Iran, allowing the Ayatollah Khomeni to come to power, forcing Anastasio Somoza to abandon Nicaragua to the Communist Sandinistas, and even helping the Communist Mao TseTung take over China.
From the Congressional Record (7-5-16)
Rep. Ed Royce (R), CA-39:
“The legislation before us is the product of more than 3 years of careful deliberation and inclusive negotiations.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D), NY-16:
“Mr. Speaker, nearly 800 million people around the world live without the certainty that their families will have enough to eat. When children don’t make it to the age of 5, half the time it is because of malnutrition….
“This bill places a special priority on foreign assistance programs that aim to reduce global poverty and hunger. It also authorizes a robust investment in the Obama administration’s signature Feed the Future initiative as well as other State Department and USAID efforts dealing with global hunger.”