WASHINGTON, June 4, 2014 – Senators Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and
Chris Coons, D-Del., yesterday introduced
legislation aimed at overhauling the U.S. food aid program. Though the
lawmakers say the bill will “free up as much as $440 million annually through
greater efficiencies in developing aid” and will allow the U.S. to reach as
many as 9 million more people, more quickly, similar bills have been criticized
by the agriculture industry and others for failing to support domestic jobs and
farmers.
“More than anything else, the mission of America’s food aid
program is to save lives,” said Coons, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on African Affairs. “Our current system for acquiring and
distributing food aid is inefficient and often hurts the very communities it is
trying to help.”
The Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014 would:
- Change the law that requires 100 percent of food aid
commodities to be produced in the U.S. Instead, the legislation would allow
U.S. funds to be used to purchase locally or regionally procured commodities,
vouchers, or cash transfers, depending on the most cost-effective option.
- Change legislation that requires 50 percent of donated
food aid to be shipped on U.S.-flag vessels. The legislation would allow USAID,
which oversees the Food for Peace program, to ship U.S. commodities on whatever
vessel is available, which the lawmakers argue will save the agency money.
- Eliminate “monetization,” or the practice of requiring 15
percent of all U.S.-donated food to be sold first by aid organizations for the
purpose of funding development projects. Many development proponents say
monetization disrupts local markets; a 2011 Government Accountability Office
(GAO) report
concurred.
While Coons, Corker and other food aid reform advocates say
the changes will make the U.S. food aid system more wide-ranging and efficient,
many argue changing the structure of the program will have political downsides.
The agriculture and marine industries, historically proponents of the program,
could stand to lose if U.S. commodities are no longer shipped overseas on U.S.
vessels.
Others, including some development groups like Feed
the Children and ACDI/VOCA, argue
the method of monetization has been
effective. An Informa Economics study
commissioned by those groups in 2012 argued the system has worked in the
Gambia, Guatemala and Liberia, among other places.
But Coons and Corker have some powerful allies. The Obama
administration itself pushed for wide-ranging food aid reform in the fiscal
year 2014 appropriations
bill. Additionally, the 2014 Farm Bill authorized
USAID and USDA to use more locally or regionally purposed food with an $80
million program, subject to appropriations.
The current legislation, however, could move the program out
of the farm bill entirely and into the Foreign Assistance Act.
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