Food crisis stirs talk in Congress

WASHINGTON, Apr 16, 2008 (The Miami Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- -- Lawmakers on Tuesday demanded immediate debt relief for Haiti and the release of millions of dollars in food aid to help ease the Caribbean nation's struggle with soaring food prices.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus launched a campaign to raise awareness on the Haitian plight, citing the humanitarian crisis unfolding just a short distance from the United States. Recent angry protests led to the ouster of the the prime minister in a nation that has long battled grinding poverty and political instability.

The legislators painted a dire predicament of starving Haitians eating mud patties and a looming threat to the government of President Rene Preval, unless the United States and other nations move quickly.

"We need all hands on deck," said New York Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks at a press briefing with other lawmakers and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, of the Rainbow/Push Coalition.

Haiti has been allotted $96 million as part of the U.N. World Food Program, but only $13 million has been released so far, the lawmakers said.

Legislators want the Treasury Department to use its clout in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank so that Haiti can skip a $48.7 million payment due to multilateral lending agencies this year.

Miramar Democrat Alcee Hastings included the request in an amendment to the Jubilee Act, a broader bill that proposes debt relief for all poor nations. The text is sponsored by 104 House members, including Hastings, Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami.

Haiti is in the midst of an IMF-supervised process that will eventually ease its total $1.6 billion the debt burden by 60 percent, but this is not expected to happen before early next year, said Andreas Adriano, an IMF spokesman.

"A fight for our moral authority is at stake here," Jackson said, adding that immigration rules for Haitians should be relaxed. "We cannot have one set of rules for Cubans and another for Haitians."

Rep. Janice Schakowsky, D-Ill., said the $96 million for Haiti amounted to what the United States spent in seven hours in Iraq.

"I think we might be able to scrape up the money to do it," she said.

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