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USAID Dismantling Raises Questions About Food Aid Purchased from American Farmers

Over the last several days, Elon Musk has taken steps to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The agency’s headquarters have been shuttered, the website disappeared, and employees were locked out of systems.

At a press conference and protest outside the headquarters on Monday, February 3, Congressional Democrats said the actions would put children around the world at risk of starvation, since USAID is a primary supplier of global humanitarian food aid. USAID purchases that food aid—about $2 billion a year of rice, wheat, lentils, and peas, according to DTN—from American farmers, prompting questions about how the agency’s shuttering might also impact rural America.

The White House put out a statement that included a list of USAID programs it said represented waste and abuse at the agency, but it did not mention humanitarian food aid. “For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous—and, in many cases, malicious—pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,” it said.

At the press conference, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) said the agency’s shuttering was “plain illegal” and that lawmakers are working to get an injunction to stop it. (Link to this post)

The post USAID Dismantling Raises Questions About Food Aid Purchased from American Farmers appeared first on Civil Eats.

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