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The USDA has halted several million dollars worth of food deliveries to wait…checks notes…food banks as a part of another cost-cutting measure by the overly aggressive cost-cutting Trump administration.
If I refuse to pay my phone, bill it doesn’t mean I’m saving money; it means I’m neglecting my responsibilities, and for months, Trump and his wayward band of sycophants have been cutting vital programs but always seem to have money for Trump’s golf outings. As it stands, Trump’s golf trips have cost U.S. taxpayers some $18 million since he was sworn into office.
Well now, Politico is reporting that the Agriculture Department has stopped “millions of dollars worth of deliveries to food banks without explanation, according to food bank leaders in six states.”
But we are saving money!
See how dumb that sounds?
According to the news site, the USDA had already allotted $500 million to six food banks for The Emergency Food Assistance Program, and now, that money has been canceled.
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From Politico:
The halting of these deliveries, first reported by POLITICO, comes after the Agriculture Department separately axed two other food programs, ending more than $1 billion in planned federal spending for schools and food banks to purchase from local farmers.
USDA did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The collective cuts are expected to make it more difficult for food banks to meet families’ needs, with food prices now 20 percent higher than they were in 2020, food bank leaders say.
“I certainly look at our lines and look at our shelves and say we need some relief,” said Joree Novotny, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, which also reported canceled deliveries with no indication they would resume.
A delivery of 500,000 pounds of food to the Central California Food Bank, which would have lasted from April through July and cost $850,000, has been stopped.
Cathy Kanefsky, president of the Food Bank of Delaware, told Politico “that between 20 to 24 full truckloads of food were canceled for the next four months.”
As usual, the Trump administration is simply taking money meant to feed people going through difficult times so they can spend it someplace else. The irony is that $148 million of the allotted $500 million was to be spent with farmers to buy “dairy products, eggs, blueberries and more.”
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“USDA has not yet announced plans to move forward with the canceled food orders,” the email from Feeding America sent to its food bank networks read, Politico reports. “We believe the best approach is for network members to work through state agencies to obtain clarification from USDA.”
But if the states could afford to feed those in need, they wouldn’t need federal help.
“We can try to figure out how to make up the gaps, which is a hard lift, or ultimately there’s less food on the table,” Chad Morrison, president of West Virginia’s Mountaineer Food Bank, told Politico.
SEE ALSO:
The Growing Scale Of Food Insecurity
Trump’s Administration Is Really Good At This One Thing
USDA Starves Food Banks With More Trump Administration Cuts
was originally published on
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