McGovern-Dole and foreign food aid programs defended

WASHINGTON – A Trump administration plan to eliminate popular and longstanding foreign food aid programs as a cost-saving measure would be short-sighted and ill-advised, witnesses testifying before a House agriculture panel said Wednesday.

But even before they got started, the Republican chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Rep. Michael Conaway of Texas, said the proposed cut to the McGovern-Dole and Food for Peace programs "seems contrary to the role they play in a robust ‘America-first' policy."

Conaway recalled visiting a McGovern-Dole school in Ethiopia last May, and was clearly touched. But he ended the hearing noting the U.S. doesn't have "an unlimited checkbook."

The committee is reviewing foreign and domestic food aid programs this week in anticipation of writing a new Farm Bill before the current five-year plan expires in September 2018.

Margaret Schuler, senior vice president for international food programs at World Vision, a Christian relief and advocacy organization, said cutting the U.S. Department of Agriculture programs would be a "huge mistake" and "would damage our reputation as a country."

She said terror groups like Al Shabab in Somalia recruit with promises of access to food. Another witness noted that in parts of northern Nigeria controlled by Boko Haram, malnutrition is endemic.

The McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, named for the late Democratic Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota and former Kansas Republican Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, both former presidential candidates, sends about $200 million a year to underwrite school lunch programs in hunger-prone developing countries. The Food for Peace Program, which cost $1.7 billion last year, was created in 1954 and has fed billions in more than 150 countries. Under the Trump plan, it would be folded into the State Department's International Disaster Assistance program which is slated for sharp reductions.

Dole, in an op-ed in with former South Dakota Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle in Time Magazine last month, noted McGovern-Dole has fed 22 million school children in 41 countries since 2002, boosting nutrition and educational achievement. "We can continue to provide leadership in the world, or we can turn our back on the world's hungry," they wrote.

While all of Tuesday's witnesses agreed eliminating the flagship, goodwill-inducing programs would be a mistake, some argued that's in part because the programs don't just help foreigners in need, but serve U.S. self-interests by supporting American jobs.

Rhode Island-based Edesia Nutrition uses 28 million pounds of American agricultural products a year from 15 states — including peanuts from Texas and vegetable oils from Kentucky and Maryland — to make therapeutic malnutrition packets for starving people around the world, said its CEO and founder, Navyn Salem. Food aid also serves another purpose, she noted. The foil packet of peanut paste she gave to Surprice, a severely malnourished seven-month-old in rural Liberia last year, bears the logo "Gift of the American People."

Witness Brian W. Schoeneman of the Seafarers International Union made the case that American farmers, others involved in transporting American commodities and his members all benefit from the food aid sent overseas. He said that without the cargoes made available through Food for Peace, merchant mariners jobs — down 2,400 in the last five years — will continue to disappear and, with them, the U.S. capacity to respond to critical U.S. military transport needs.

Noting that until now no one has ever proposed zeroing-out American food aid programs, Schoeneman said that without the support of domestic constituencies like farmers and mariners, "they're going to go away."

While most members of the committee appeared to support the USDA foreign aid programs, some underscored Trump's rationale for the proposed cuts. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., questioned the wisdom of borrowing to make donations for future generations to repay.

Other witnesses noted that China is already training Africans in Mandarin with the expectation of a growing relationship paying dividends in the future.

Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., noting the international diplomatic impact of American food assistance, said it helps sustain security. "When we don't lead, that vacuum is filled," he said.