Two senators introduce food aid bill
June 04, 2014 | 01:25 PM
Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., introduced a bill Tuesday that would change U.S. food aid programs by allowing the purchase of either U.S. or foreign-produced food items, ending monetization — the sale of food aid with the proceeds used for development — and ending the requirement that 50 percent of the food going overseas be shipped on American-flagged vessels.
Corker and Coons, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the bill would “free up as much as $440 million annually through greater efficiencies in delivering aid, allowing the U.S. to reach an estimated seven to nine million people more people, in a shorter time period.”
A coalition of farm groups, maritime interests and humanitarian groups, some of whom use monetization to raise money for the projects, have traditionally lobbied for food aid. Those groups opposed an earlier Obama administration proposal that was similar.
A coalition of humanitarian groups that have been critical of U.S. food aid issued a statement in favor of the Coons-Corker bill today: American Jewish World Service, Bread for the World, CARE, Church World Service, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, Oxfam America, Presbyterian Church USA, Save the Children, The Borgen Project, United Methodist Church: General Board of Church and Society.
“This act responds to the numerous studies and reports that conclude that our system for delivering food aid is plagued by inefficiencies that, if improved, would result in reaching more hungry people more quickly and at no additional cost,” the groups said in a news release.
▪ Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014
Corker and Coons, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the bill would “free up as much as $440 million annually through greater efficiencies in delivering aid, allowing the U.S. to reach an estimated seven to nine million people more people, in a shorter time period.”
A coalition of farm groups, maritime interests and humanitarian groups, some of whom use monetization to raise money for the projects, have traditionally lobbied for food aid. Those groups opposed an earlier Obama administration proposal that was similar.
A coalition of humanitarian groups that have been critical of U.S. food aid issued a statement in favor of the Coons-Corker bill today: American Jewish World Service, Bread for the World, CARE, Church World Service, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, Oxfam America, Presbyterian Church USA, Save the Children, The Borgen Project, United Methodist Church: General Board of Church and Society.
“This act responds to the numerous studies and reports that conclude that our system for delivering food aid is plagued by inefficiencies that, if improved, would result in reaching more hungry people more quickly and at no additional cost,” the groups said in a news release.
▪ Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014
