U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, said there was a moral imperative for the U.S. government to deliver international food aid to starving people. He also said it was important to not undermine market opportunities for U.S. commodities in wake of Trump administration maneuvering to close the U.S. Agency for International Development. (Kansas Reflector screen capture of U.S. Senate video)
TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said a freeze on federal funding and change at the U.S. Agency for International Development left $340 million in lifesaving food grown in the United States sitting at domestic ports awaiting delivery to locations around the world where people were starving.
On Friday, President Donald Trump said he wanted to shut down USAID, which served as the federal government’s primary provider of development and humanitarian aid worldwide. Much of USAID’s funding has been frozen. Thousands of USAID employees expect to be indefinitely suspended or laid off as the Trump administration, in collaboration with billionaire Elon Musk, worked to gut an agency the president said was operated by “radical lunatics.”
Moran, among farm-state senators on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he encouraged Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state and acting administrator of USAID, to make certain U.S.-grown commodities were promptly shipped and distributed to people in need.
The World Food Programme estimated $340 million in U.S. food aid was idled at domestic ports by order of the Trump administration. In total, $566 million in U.S.-grown commodities designated for humanitarian purposes was locked down in warehouses throughout the world.
“Time is running out before this lifesaving aid perishes,” Moran said. “Food stability is essential to political stability, and our food aid programs help feed the hungry, bolster our national security and provide an important market for our farmers, especially when commodity prices are low.”
Moran said there was a “moral component to food aid,” but he understood administrative issues with U.S. aid programs had to be addressed. That reform, he said, must go beyond presidential directives so Congress could be “involved in making the decision of what this should look like.”
Rep. Tracey Mann, the Kansas Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, has led relaunch of the bipartisan House Hunger Caucus dedicated to international and domestic hunger and food insecurity. He said in a previous statement that growing up on a Kansas farm taught him the sacred responsibility of feeding people.
“Hunger destabilizes countries, starts wars, eliminates markets and causes human suffering. America benefits on multiple levels from making investments that address it,” Mann said. “America is the leader of the free world, which comes with certain responsibilities. Addressing global hunger is both the morally right and strategically wise thing do to.”
‘Irresponsibility’
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat also on the House Agriculture Committee, said dismantling USAID would have ramifications in terms of world hunger and the future of Kansas agriculture.
“Elon Musk’s reckless and illegal shutdown of USAID isn’t lowering prices as promised — it’s hurting our economy, national security and hardworking Kansans,” Davids said. “My team has heard from many who have lost their jobs, small businesses facing bankruptcy and Kansas farmers struggling to sell their crops. This level of irresponsibility cannot go unchecked.”
USAID’s website said at midnight Friday all USAID direct-hire personnel would be “placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has facilitated the purchase of U.S. commodities funneled into the USAID pipeline. USAID has been responsible for booking cargo ships to deliver food aid and to coordinate distribution of assistance in various countries.
USDA paused the purchase of food for USAID purposes in response to Trump’s executive order establishing a 90-day freeze on funding. Rubio issued a temporary waiver for food and other lifesaving assistance, but there was confusion about what qualified for the exemption. U.S.-grown agriculture products in domestic ports included wheat, sorghum, rice, lentils, peas as well as vegetable or sunflower oils.
USAID, with a staff of approximately 10,000, also has oversight of U.S. disaster relief and health initiatives in over 100 countries.
Abuse, fraud crackdown
U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican on the Senate’s agriculture committee, said during a news conference in Kansas that USAID was mired in corruption. The allegation mirrored claims made by Trump and Musk.
“As I travel the world, I’d never seen such waste, fraud and abuse than I have in the USAID programs,” Marshall said.
Marshall said he recommended an executive-branch crackdown on USAID when he spoke to Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who worked together at what Trump anointed as the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk remained in that role, but Ramaswamy resigned.
“One of the very first things I spoke to Elon and Vivek about was the problems in the USAID program,” Marshall said. “I think it’s very good to take a pause on all of our money that we’re sending outside of this country. Let’s make America first again. Let’s get our own house in order.”
He said the federal government ought to make certain U.S. tax dollars went to the “right people” whether it was Medicaid, the Supplemental Food and Nutrition Program or USAID.
“As I travel to these countries, they just take us for granted. I’ve just never seen more abuse than I have through the USAID programs,” Marshall said. “I don’t want the thugs stealing the food and stealing the money as well.”
Other voices
On Thursday, Moran questioned Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union, and Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, during a Senate hearing dedicated to farmer and rancher perspectives on the U.S. agriculture economy.
Moran asked Larew and Duvall to share thoughts on how trade and exports intersected with international humanitarian aid.
“Any food aid helps in that economic picture for farmers,” said Duvall of Greene County, Georgia. “It is important to realize that we support efficiencies. We want it done more efficiently and not be wasteful. But we also got to think about the stability of our world. When people get hungry, they get mean and mad and they get jealous of our country that has everything available to them because of our food system.”
Larew, of Greenville, West Virginia, said National Farm Union members recognized the value of international humanitarian aid and the importance of global markets at a time of financial uncertainty with weak crop prices and high production costs.
“Some of the commodities are at risk, should there be major disruptions here, to fall even further,” he said.