Food aid: a critical program, ripe for reform
Tell Congress to support common sense proposed reform — to help feed millions more people without spending an extra penny.
US food aid has saved hundreds of millions of people from malnutrition and starvation, and it costs less than .05 percent of the federal budget each year. As more frequent natural disasters and humanitarian crises leave millions of families struggling to survive, our nearly sixty-year-old food aid program is more critical than ever.
Our current food aid program requires the purchase and shipment of US-sourced food to locations around the world and is both outdated and inefficient. Food aid shipped from the United States takes four to six months to reach its final destination. What’s worse, Oftentimes, food aid is monetized – it’s purchased from American farmers and then sold abroad in places where food could be purchased locally, damaging local economies.
Right now, fifty-three cents out of every dollar we spend on basic grains for food aid ends up in the pockets of middlemen as a result of red tape and regulations. These regulations protect special interests, at the expense of hungry people, and waste up to $471 million in US tax dollars each year.
US food aid is ripe for reform and right now we have a chance to change it.
A bipartisan group in the House of Representatives has proposed key reforms to the way that food aid works. The proposed reforms can help get food aid to hungry people faster, cheaper, and more efficiently without sacrificing the important benefits US aid provides to people in need. The policy changes can save 4 million more lives, without spending another dime. It’s a no-brainer. This week Congress will vote on an amendment to the Farm Bill proposed by Representatives Ed Royce (R-California) and Eliot Engel (D-New York).
Take action with us this week by calling your representative at 1-888-404-5166.
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Tell Congress: Vote YES on the #foodaid reforms. Lives depend on it! Call: 1-888-404-5166 If Congress votes YES on #foodaid reforms we can feed 4 mil more people at no extra cost! 1-888-404-5166Share this infographic
Think the cost of your groceries is on the rise? Now think about the tax money you spend on food aid to developing countries. If we reform food aid, we can get more food to the people who need it, more quickly, and at the same cost.
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