Amends the Agriculture Appropriations Bill to Save Lives of More People Facing Starvation, More Quickly, at a Lower Cost

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, will introduce an amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill to improve U.S. international food aid to help more people facing starvation, more quickly, at a lower cost.  Specifically, the Royce amendment provides funds for the “Local and Regional Purchase” (LRP) program allowing the U.S. to buy food closer to areas in crisis, reducing transit time and costs.
 
The LRP program, enacted through the Farm Bill, has been recognized as an important food aid reform that will enable the U.S. to respond more quickly at less cost.  Unfortunately, the Agriculture Appropriations Bill does not fund this important program.  The Royce Amendment would fix that by providing $10 million for the LRP program by reducing funding for the Agricultural Marketing Service, which uses taxpayer dollars to administer food advertising campaigns and other duplicative activities.  
 
Chairman Royce on the amendment: “In a time of shrinking budgets we are forced to do more with less.  It is crucial that the United States has the tools to respond to humanitarian crises while stretching our food aid dollars further.  From the ongoing crisis in Syria to the devastating typhoon in the Philippines, starving people do not have months to wait for emergency food to arrive.  The LRP program is a bipartisan tool that been proven to reduce delivery time and costs.  This proposal is common sense — it allows us to save the lives of more people facing starvation, more quickly, at a lower cost.”
 

 

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