WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Herb Kohl today met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to discuss global food security.  Kohl is Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations panel with jurisdiction over the country’s two major international food relief programs.  He has spearheaded efforts to add federal funding for PL480, the “Food for Peace” program, and the McGovern-Dole program for child nutrition to meet the dire need for humanitarian assistance around the world.   U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack also attended this morning’s meeting.

“Our economic challenges here at home and the need to create jobs must be the focus of our work.  But we should not lose sight of the desperate situations around the globe, where the scarcity of food destabilizes governments and creates regimes that threaten our national security.  Humanitarian aid is a tremendous diplomatic tool, and we can use it to boost our domestic agriculture industry,” Kohl said.

The meeting brought a focus to the need for a coordinated, government-wide application of public and private resources to combat global hunger in a sustainable way and in a manner that promotes the U.S. national security agenda and peace throughout the world.

            At the meeting, Senator Kohl reminded the Secretary of State of the contributions U.S. agriculture and USDA programs can make in this effort through long-standing relationships with the nation's land grant university network and other partners.  That point was echoed by Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack.