The lack of funding for the Pakistan flood relief programs will have serious consequences if money isn’t found soon to help those in need, Oxfam would be forced to cut back on its efforts after December, meaning the 3.9 million people it had planned to reach would go without help. Save the Children has raised only 35 percent so far of their global appeal for the Sindh floods. Care faces a shortfall of 91 percent and is struggling to continue its relief program at a time when the risk of an outbreak of disease and widespread malnutrition is escalating.

“More than two months into the crisis, millions of people are still without basics. If relief operations stop, it could lead to an unimaginable catastrophe. Healthcare, clean water, and sanitation are needed to stem a looming public health crisis. The precarious food system is under threat as there’s an acute food shortage, and many farmers will miss the winter cropping season. With winter approaching fast, millions of people who are still without shelter will be left out in the cold.  We urgently need to see the same donor generosity and giving that took place last year during the floods," said Neva Khan, Oxfam’s Country Director in Pakistan. 

The programs of UN agencies also are affected by the sluggish funding. The UN’s $357 million appeal has only received $96.5 million so far from international donor governments. "The 2011 floods flash appeal remains distressingly underfunded with a 73 percent shortfall, and if more funding is not received, relief supplies will run out within weeks, which prevents UN agencies from providing life-saving clean water, sanitation, food, shelter, and healthcare" said Stacey Winston, UN Spokesperson.

The government of Pakistan also faces a funding crisis and might be forced to scale down relief efforts due to depleting resources, which has led to an increased need for the humanitarian organizations to step up their response.

More than two months into the disaster, over 1.58 million houses in Sindh and 26,000 in Balochistan have been damaged. People are forced to live in desperate conditions. More than three-quarters of the affected households have not received any shelter assistance while around 800,000 people are still displaced.

According to the latest estimates, three million people are in urgent need of emergency food assistance.
Diseases are on the rise and the lives of at least two million adults and three million children are at risk. Stagnant waters and approaching winter season have strengthened the risk of a major outbreak of dengue, malaria, and acute respiratory infection. More than 160,000 pregnant women will require lifesaving medical services in the next six months.

“We had expected the situation to stabilize by now, but conditions are going from bad to worse. Each day that passes puts more children at risk of contracting diseases. Malnutrition levels among children under five are among some of our worst recorded cases. Children’s immunity is very weak, and we fear winter will make the situation worse if aid is not immediately stepped up,” said Save the Children’s Pakistan Country Director, David Wright.    

Over 67 percent of food stocks and 73 percent of the crops in thirteen districts of Sindh have been destroyed. Additionally, farmers whose field are under water will miss the winter planting season – which begins now – leading to hunger. Approximately 3.6 million people urgently require agricultural support to resume food production and income generation activities.

“It is unfortunate that the millions of flood affected populations have received so little humanitarian aid to meet their urgent food, water and shelter needs. These populations have lost everything and they require immediate assistance to be able to survive the coming winter months, and to have a chance to rebuild their lives.” said Andy Buchanan, Country Director of ACTED.

The United States has given $13.4 million to the UN appeal. Other contributing countries include – Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Norway, and Denmark. The European Commission has contributed $20.6 million and Central Emergency Response Fund has given $17.6 million.   

The Honorable Patty Murray
Co-Chair, Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
 
The Honorable Jeb Hensarling
Co-Chair, Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
129 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
 
Dear Chairwoman Murray and Chairman Hensarling:

We are writing to express our concern with reports that the House and Senate Agriculture Committees intend to use the expedited legislative process of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to authorize new Farm Bill programs and entitlements outside of regular order. As part of the Deficit Reduction process, the Agriculture Committees are responsible for reviewing existing programs and identifying where the Congress can find savings. However, we are greatly troubled by any attempt to use the Joint Select Committee to authorize costly new mandatory programs without adequate Congressional review.

As you know, Congress charged the Joint Select Committee with the task of reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion between 2012 and 2021 and provided for its legislative recommendations to be brought to the floor of both the House and the Senate for expedited consideration. Furthermore, its recommendations are not subject to amendment or filibuster. Congress implemented these rules to dull the pain of politically contentious but fiscally responsible measures. Yet, it has become apparent that some believe they can create new programs and entitlements with limited Congressional scrutiny and input.

We urge the Joint Select Committee to resist proposals that would go beyond its mandate of deficit reduction and authorize new, complicated agriculture programs that have not been the subject of Congressional review. The Joint Select Committee should instead act to find efficiencies within existing programs. If the Agricultural Committees believe that these cuts will require a fundamental redesign of agricultural programs, those Committees can and should move legislation through regular order.

Sincerely,

Ron Kind
Earl Blumenauer
John Campbell
Donna Christensen (Virgin Islands)
Steve Cohen
Peter DeFazio
Keith Ellison
Jeff Flake
Raul Grijalva
Rush Holt
Hank Johnson
Barbara Lee
John Lewis
Tom McClintock
Gwen Moore
Jim Moran
Mick Mulvaney
John Olver
Ron Paul
Tom Petri
Joe Pitts
Adam Smith
Jackie Speier
Pete Stark
Bennie Thompson
Ed Towns
Henry Waxman

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Companies signing the statement:
Nestlé
Olayan Group
PepsiCo
Unilever

FULL TEXT OF STATEMENT:

Food and Beverage companies’ Joint Statement on Biofuels

G20 governments must address biofuels as a cause of food crise

November 3rd 2011

The G20 Summit in Cannes, France is an important moment for the world to address food security.  As 4 of the largest food and beverage companies with global supply chains and customers world-wide, we are pleased that the summit agenda  tackles the drivers of high and volatile food prices, which have driven an additional 44 million people into poverty in the second half of 2010 (after an even higher increase since 2008).  We are concerned, however, that biofuel policies are absent from the agenda.

Expert opinion, including from the intergovernmental agency report to the G20, the High Level Panel of Experts’ report on food price volatility and the IFPRI Global Hunger Index, is converging on the view that market distorting biofuel policies are significant drivers of high and volatile food prices.  The growing demand for biofuels has contributed to food shortages and competition for land and scarce water, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable people, while often having a negative greenhouse gas balance. We are particularly concerned that even countries with frequent famines are following the misguided policies of advanced economies.

G20 governments must address biofuel policies, alongside tackling other drivers of high and volatile food prices, through improved agricultural productivity with a sustainable use of resources, efficient commodity market regulation, improved transparency and open markets, including the commitment not to restrict exports. In particular, we urge governments to reassess policies that divert food to fuel, such as fixed blending targets, and pricing subsidies. 

We would urge Governments to support technologies with a positive greenhouse gas effect which do not undermine food security. Support for “second generation “biofuels should be strictly dependent on advance impact analysis based on coherent criteria concerning land and water use.  There should be no more diversion of food for fuel.

As global food and beverage companies, we have a responsibility to contribute towards food security, but this will only be achieved alongside effective government policy on the drivers of food price volatility.  According to an Institute of Development Studies report, food prices are set to at least double in the next 20 years. The time to act is now to prevent another global food price crisis and all the awful consequences this entails.

A tax on financial transactions averaging about 0.05% could raise at least $400 billion annually. The funds raised by such a tax should be split equally between governments where the money is raised and investments in crucial global causes. Such investments can help build the resilience of communities to adapt to climate change, create effective health care systems, ensure girls can attend school and reduce hunger and food insecurity across the developing world.

“Greed and negligence caused the financial crisis and that’s why we believe that the banks and speculators, financial wizards and hedge funds managers should pay this tiny tax that could raise substantial sums of money for our domestic and international priorities,” said Gawain Kripke, policy and research director at Oxfam America, speaking at a rally in Washington, DC organized by National Nurses United. “They benefitted from the frenzy and were bailed out by taxpayers – it is not unreasonable to ask for them to pay some back.”

Oxfam is part of a growing movement of development organizations, green groups, trade unions, celebrities, religious leaders and politicians campaigning to push the financial sector to pay up and generate much-needed public funds. Financier George Soros and more than 1,000 economists, including Nobel Prize winners, have voiced their support. Bill Gates will brief G20 leaders in Cannes on innovative finance mechanisms, including the “Robin Hood” taxes on transactions by banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are both calling for this tax, but the Obama administration has blocked any progress.

“One in seven people face hunger and the global economy is teetering, with poor people being hit the hardest. Today at the G20 summit, President Obama must realize the potential of the financial transaction tax or at least get out of the way and let his European colleagues to adopt it,” said Kripke.

Acclaimed actor and Oxfam Ambassador Bill Nighy joined National Nurses United and others from the global labor movement and the World Wildlife Fund at a press conference in Cannes, France to call for a global financial transaction tax ahead of the G20.

“Gambling by the financial sector was a main cause of the economic crisis but banks, bailed out by governments with trillions of dollars, are now returning to bonuses as usual,” said Nighy in Cannes. "But no one bailed out the people hit hardest by the financial crisis. The Robin Hood Tax would be small change for the banks but would truly make a big difference for the world.”

Similar to the recently passed US “Cardin-Lugar” provision of the Dodd-Frank Act, the EC proposal goes further by requiring both public and private companies to disclose their payments.

“The revolution for transparency in the oil, gas and mining industry is continuing across the Atlantic, where there is strong political momentum, particularly in the United Kingdom and France, to build upon the ‘Cardin-Lugar’ provision of the Dodd-Frank Act passed last year by the United States,” said Ian Gary, policy manager of Oxfam America’s oil, gas and mining program. “The United States has an important opportunity to help shape the European proposal by issuing final rules for the Cardin-Lugar provision as soon as possible.”

With the US law covering the vast majority of internationally operating oil companies and world’s largest mining companies along with these European rules covering even more companies, the transparency net will be cast far and wide. Citizens of resource-rich countries will now be able to arm themselves with information they can use to track the amount of money governments receive from oil and mining companies.

“Too often, oil and mineral riches have led to corruption, violence and wars, affecting communities and consumers on both sides of the pipeline,” said Gary. “We applaud the leadership of EC President Jose Manuel Barroso and Commissioner Michel Barnier on this issue, but Europe and the United States need to act quickly, especially at a time when the world’s appetite for finite resources is at an all-time high.”

Despite the urgency, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed issuing a final rule for the “Cardin Lugar” provision. The regulatory agency was required by Congress to finish this rule by April 15, 2011, but now says the final regulation will be released by December of this year.

“While the heavy rule making workload of the SEC is appreciated, all parties have made their views known to the SEC. The deadline is well past and the public is waiting for this vital information,” said Gary.  “Through SEC action, the United States will be in a good position to influence the EC legislative proposal.”

The oil industry has been seeking to weaken implementation of the US law and to water down the EC proposals. The strong proposals from the EC show that industry needs to recognize that this transparency wave is inevitable and should stop fighting disclosure rules that benefit companies, investors, energy consumers in industrialized countries and citizens in resource-rich states.

“Oil companies are hugely profitable and compliance costs will be minimal. This is information that any well-run company will already be collecting and accounting for,” said Gary. “If systems aren’t in place for tracking payments to governments for resource-rights, investors need to ask why.”

The EC proposals can be improved by ensuring that there are no exemptions for covered companies – as proposed by the SEC – and that reporting for each project is defined to cover payments made at the lease or license level in host countries. 

Notes to the Editor:

- The EC proposal and the US law will complement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a set of voluntary principles under which governments publicly disclose their revenues from oil, gas and mining projects, and companies make parallel disclosures regarding payments they make to host governments for accessing publicly owned resources. So far, eleven countries have implemented EITI and the United States is the first G8 country to commit to implementation. EITI implementation in the United States will require private companies to also disclose their payments to the federal government.  

- Clare Short, chair of the EITI, said in a statement that “These EU transparency requirements will strengthen the local accountability that the EITI provides.” 

“The law makes it the policy of the US to work with regional governments towards lasting solutions to the conflict which are comprehensive and include non-military strategies not just to defeat senior leadership of the LRA but also to peacefully demobilize low-level fighters, often unwillingly conscripted as children,” Noah Gottschalk, Oxfam America’s Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor, said.

Gottschalk said Oxfam welcomed US attention to the issue but said it is crucial that lessons are learned from past mistakes such as the disastrous December 2008 Operation Lightening Thunder, a joint military campaign by the Congolese, Ugandan, and South Sudanese armies, supported by the US.

“Not only did Operation Lightning Thunder fail to capture or kill LRA leaders, but it led to devastating reprisal attacks by the LRA.  Approximately 865 women, men and children were killed and thousands were displaced from their homes.  Earlier military attempts before US engagement also caused widespread human suffering but barely dented the LRA itself.”

Today, isolated and vulnerable communities lack proper protection through Congolese police, military or international peacekeepers in the area and are attractive targets for the LRA because of this.   In keeping with the spirit of “The Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009” the US should be reducing these vulnerabilities by improving roads and communication networks, and helping to make Congolese security forces more accountable to the people they serve.

The US should prioritize security sector reforms like supporting the Congolese government to ensure soldiers’ pay and welfare, assisting in the establishment of army garrisons and helping to train soldiers in human rights.

Oxfam is one of only a handful of groups providing humanitarian aid in LRA-affected areas of DRC where 335,000 people remain displaced because of the armed group.   Even more are caught in a cycle of fleeing and returning, an instable situation that contributes to the area’s poverty.  The situation continues to worsen: a 2011 survey by Oxfam in LRA-affected communities found that 62 percent of 322 interviewees said they felt less safe this year than last.

Oxfam said that any increase in fighting is likely to cause further displacement and restrict the aid effort at a time when 750,000 Somalis are at risk of death due to deteriorating conditions. The agency urged all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and make all efforts to minimize civilian casualties, while ensuring that the flow of aid to famine zones is not affected.

Oxfam said the fighting, and the tightening of security along the border, could also make it much more difficult for refugees to leave Somalia for Dadaab camp, and that their right to seek refuge in Kenya must be upheld.  Several hundred refugees have been crossing the border every day in search of aid and safety.

“We are extremely concerned that the current fighting is likely to have a serious impact on communities left struggling to survive by the famine. The top priority at the moment must be making sure that people get aid quickly. But increased conflict will make it even more difficult to provide them with food, water and other life-saving assistance,” said Fran Equiza, Oxfam’s Regional Director.

Oxfam also condemned recent insecurity in Kenya, which has hampered the aid effort there and has forced Oxfam to reduce some of its work. Kenyans need security and protection, but Oxfam said the best way to achieve a secure region is through a peaceful and lasting solution in Somalia.  

The situation in Somalia is increasingly alarming. The famine is expected to spread over the next month, including to some of the regions that are now facing further conflict. More than 1.5 million Somalis – one in six of the population – have been forced from their homes due to conflict and drought, and more could now be made homeless.

“People are fleeing the most unimaginable suffering and arrive at camps desperate for food, water and shelter. Kenya has legitimate security concerns, and has already welcomed a huge number of refugees, but it must continue to ensure that people can seek safety and shelter.” said Equiza.

Malnutrition rates among children in Somalia are the worst in the world, and the upcoming rainy season brings the threat of outbreaks of disease among communities weakened by malnutrition.

A surge in the humanitarian response over the past three months has helped bring aid to many parts of Somalia. Oxfam partners are currently assisting more than 700,000 people in the country with clean water and sanitation services. However, insecurity and other restrictions mean that many people are still not getting the help they need.

Oxfam said that in the past military action in Somalia has had a negative impact on civilians and further reduced access for aid agencies. It called for a new approach in dealing with the Somalia crisis, through sustained diplomatic engagement involving all the different parties.

“Oxfam, together with local partner organizations trained in emergency response, is working quickly to reach the communities most endangered by the ongoing storms in El Salvador,” said Enrique García, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Coordinator in El Salvador. “We will continue to respond in the coming days and weeks as assessments are made about the extent of the damage and lives affected.”

On Tuesday, October 11, the Salvadoran Civil Protection System declared an orange alert for the coastal and mountainous regions of the country. By Friday, October 14, President Mauricio Funes declared a state of emergency for all of El Salvador. This allows the President to use available resources within the country to respond to the emergency, but also to call on the assistance of international donors. 

So far, more than 19,000 homes have been affected, most of which were flooded. In addition, 879 landslides and mudslides have been counted and at least 123 rivers have burst their banks. Estimations are that 40 percent of this year’s harvest has already been lost. 

Poor territorial planning and deforestation contribute to El Salvador’s susceptibility to heavy rain damage, but the real danger to human life stems from the vulnerability of poor communities.

“It’s not just the heavy rain that is causing the disaster; it’s the vulnerable circumstances people live in,” said García. “In many cases, people living in poverty don’t have any other option than to live in areas prone to flooding. Or they are forced to live in remote areas with poor access roads, which cause them to be cut off from essentially supplies during landslides.”

Oxfam is responding with emergency water, sanitation, and hygiene services. So far, Oxfam, with prepositioned materials, has installed nine water tanks, donated four big stoves in shelters, and distributed hygiene kits (soap, toothpaste and toothbrush, sanitary napkins, diapers, towels, detergent) and kitchen kits (big pots, plates, cups, and utensils), reaching more than 5,000 people. Together with local partners, Oxfam will continue response in these areas over the coming days and weeks, expecting to reach tens of thousands more people.

/ENDS

Last month Oxfam revealed that major corporations are pushing poor farmers in the developing world off of their land and into hunger and poverty:
www.oxfamamerica.org/landgrab
Full Report: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/land-and-power

Oxfam America has launched an action asking individuals to send a letter to the CEO of the New Forests Company, 20% of which is owned by the major international bank HSBC, demanding that he take immediate action now to bring justice to these communities:
https://secure.oxfamamerica.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1273

“It’s crucial that we all take a moment to think about where our food comes from and the challenges facing the people who produce our food,” said award-winning chef José Andrés. “The conversations taking place on Sunday night are the beginning of this effort.”

“Around the country, in private homes, farmers markets, schools and churches, Americans will gather to break bread together and have a conversation about the food that sustains all of us and the solutions we can all contribute to make the world a better place,” said Jim French, a Kansas farmer who is organizing events throughout the Midwest for Oxfam. “Our effort this World Food Day aims to bring attention to the injustices of the global food system and get on the path to change.”

World Food Day also takes place this year amidst a devastating famine in East Africa that didn’t have to happen and should never happen again. A new documentary special from Oxfam America and Link TV “ViewChange: Africa’s Last Famine,” premieres tonight and will investigate solutions to chronic hunger – including weather insurance and investing in small farmers –disputing the notion that famine is simply caused by a lack of food in the global supply.    

The program features the story of one Ethiopian mother and farmer, Medhin Reda, who is using weather insurance to withstand periods of drought. Through interviews with Francis Moore Lappé, the award-winning humanitarian and bestselling author of Diet for a Small Planet, the show takes a hard look at food justice. According to Moore Lappé in the documentary, “the world produces more than enough for all of us to thrive…the real crisis is the crisis of human relationships, how we share in power.”

Despite the promise of innovative programs that help address the root causes of global hunger, such as weather insurance for poor farmers, some in Congress are targeting the tiny amount of funding from the federal budget that goes towards foreign assistance for disproportionate cuts that will hobble life-saving programs that invest in small holder farmers like Medhin.

“Innovative and effective programs such as Feed the Future, are seeking to build economic opportunity and self-sufficiency for poor farmers around the world, but this and other crucial anti-poverty programs face debilitating cuts in the Congressional budget negotiations taking place today,” said Vicky Rateau, Oxfam America’s GROW campaign manager. “Now is not the time to slash effective programs that deliver more with less. Now is the time to invest in a better, safer, and more prosperous world without hunger.”

The events taking place in the US add to the global efforts of the international organization and its partners marking World Food Day, which include the crowning of a female food hero in Tanzania, a series of campaign picnics and breakfasts in Belgium, a youth food photo competition in Vietnam, a restaurant cook-off in Burkina Faso, a rural women’s assembly in South Africa and a photography exhibit in El Salvador.

/ENDS

Notes:

For more information on the Sunday Dinner Conversations, please visit: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/worldfoodday

The new documentary “ViewChange: Africa’s Last Famine, is available to view and download online at www.ViewChange.org and  www.oxfamamerica.org, and it will broadcast on Link TV on Friday, October 14 (7 p.m. EDT) and again on Tuesday, October 18 (11 p.m. EDT) on DIRECTVChannel 375 and Dish Network Channel 9410. 

“Americans know that the most successful aid programs are the ones that don’t just give people stuff, but rather help them help themselves,” said Paul O’Brien, vice-president for campaigns and advocacy for Oxfam America. “But these are precisely the programs that are facing dangerous cuts, pulling the rug from under our partners in the fight against poverty.”

The hard-hitting ads were featured today in Roll Call, Congress Quarterly, Politico and National Journal, will continue through the month in the same publications and in the Economist, and be supplemented by an aggressive series of billboard ads in National Airport during the peak travel month of November. The ads showcase a few of the recipients of US foreign aid, highlighting the measurable impact that can be achieved in the fight against poverty when the US partners with local people. Oxfam America, however, does not accept funding from US government sources.

The ads feature Jose Ordoñez, a Honduran corn farmer who struggled to feed his family but then learned how to grow more profitable crops like papaya. And Kim Nay Heang, a Cambodian entrepreneur who learned how to transform her household fishpond into a profitable business venture, allowing her family to survive a spike in food prices. And Jacqueline Morette, a Haitian farmer who co-founded an organization that helps poor women farmers grow more food and reach new markets to sell their products.

“People like Jose, Kim and Jacqueline couldn’t have succeeded without the partnership of the American people, said O’Brien. “And since they don’t have well-heeled insider lobbyists fighting for their interests with the Super Committee, we felt that we should amplify their stories in Washington to make sure they are not forgotten.”

The Washington advertising push will be complemented by a series of events across the country, including tabling at more than 70 farmers markets and more than 240 “Sunday Dinner Conversations” to mark World Food Day on Sunday, as part of Oxfam’s GROW campaign.

“Nearly one in seven people will go to bed hungry tonight, not because we do not have enough food to feed everyone, but because of inequality in access to resources and opportunity,” said O’Brien. “Innovative and effective programs such as Feed the Future, are seeking to reverse this trend and build economic opportunity and self-sufficiency for poor farmers, but this and other essential lifesaving programs face debilitating cuts in the Congressional budget negotiations taking place today.”

Although foreign assistance amounts to less than half of one percent of the federal budget, it delivers results and saves millions of lives every year: aid has reduced the number of children who die before their fifth birthday by four million since 1990, put 33 million more children in the classroom, provided urgent humanitarian assistance to tens of millions of people affected by natural disasters and conflicts and increased tenfold the number of people receiving HIV/AIDS medication. It has also increased the production of staple food crops in parts of sub-Saharan Africa by 400%, helping feed the most vulnerable in the region.

Despite these successes, some in Congress are targeting the small amount of funding that goes towards foreign aid investments for deep cuts that will disrupt life-saving programs and dismantle much of the progress the US government has made in recent decades.

“These cuts make the difference between life and death for many of the world’s poor but would not even make a dent in our budget crisis,” said O’Brien. “In this tough economy, Congress shouldn’t be cutting programs that do more with less, it should be strengthening them. And from saving lives to reducing disease, from creating global markets to making the US safe, we know that poverty-focused aid works.”

The House bill is crucial to building the momentum and progress towards using penalties paid by BP and others responsible for last year’s Gulf oil disaster to restore the region’s economy, ecology and communities.  The RESTORE Gulf Coast States Act of 2011 was introduced this week and now has 23 other bipartisan leaders as co-sponsors. The New York Times editorial board has also weighed in on the issue, standing firmly behind the efforts. 

“This action by the House, led by Representative Scalise, is yet another critical stage for this important legislation that will help Gulf Coast businesses create thousands of new jobs and restore natural resources that so many depend on for their livelihoods,” said Minor Sinclair, director of Oxfam’s US Regional Office.  “The House introduction of the RESTORE Act combined with Senate action on the bill last month, means the momentum for its passage continues.”

The community groups in the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi working with Oxfam America are Zion Travelers Cooperative Center (ZTCC), Bayou Grace, Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organization (BISCO), Coastal Women for Change (CWC), Steps Coalition, and Terrebone Readiness & Assistance Coalition (TRAC).  All of them have all contributed greatly to garnering support for the RESTORE Act.

The bill has overwhelming public support.  A recent, national survey of likely voters shows 83 percent support a proposal to direct fines paid by BP and other parties responsible for the Gulf oil spill back to the affected areas for restoration and renewal.

“By funding worker training, we can create vital jobs in a tough economy for working families by building the resiliency of our most vulnerable communities and ecosystems. This is a powerful example of how legislators on both sides of the aisle can still work together on big national challenges. Opinion-shapers have taken notice and we hope the U.S. House moves quickly to pass this common sense legislation. We thank Representative Scalise and all the co-sponsors of the bill for pushing this forward,” said Sinclair.