Senate expected to boost food aid funds in '08

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As skyrocketing food prices deepen global hunger, the U.S. Senate is expected to seek a major boost in last-minute funding for emergency food aid.

An aide to Sen. Herb Kohl, the Wisconsin Democrat who chairs a subcommittee on agriculture appropriations, said a "substantial increase" was expected to be announced later on Wednesday as part of a massive Iraq war funding bill.

The House of Representatives, for its part, is angling to add another $500 million to the $350 million the Bush administration has already requested for food aid in the fiscal 2008 spending bill.

The aide did not have details on how much the Senate would pursue. The war funding bill is scheduled to be debated on the House floor and also in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

In recent years, supplemental funds for food aid have become a regular addition to annual budgeted funds.

It was unclear if Bush, who has said he wants a supplemental bill worth $108 billion, will veto the bill if it is too large or if it shackles him in Iraq.

The United States, the world's top donor of food aid, has provided around $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion in recent years through the Agency for International Development.

But its aid budget, and that of other donors, has been able to buy far less food this year due to the spiraling prices for food, which jumped 43 percent globally through March, and for fuel, which has forged new ground above $120 a barrel.

Washington is also the single largest supporter of the United Nations' World Food Program.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington, editing by Matthew Lewis)