Trump's Evil USAID Cuts Hurting Farmers Now, And Republicans Are Like OH F*CK
Now hold on a minute, you mean American food aid comes from American farmers?
It’s so cute when Republicans pretend to care, as we’re now seeing since American farmers have started complaining to Republican members of Congress about the economic hit that shutting down foreign aid is delivering to those farmers. As we’ve mentioned previously, some 40 percent of the food that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) sends to poor nations is purchased from American farmers, to the tune of about $2 billion annually. Also, more than 80 percent of companies that provide contract services to USAID are based in the USA.
Depending on whether Donald Trump ever follows court orders to get some of the aid programs up and running again, maybe we should just change those verbs to past tense.
As the nonprofit newsroom NOTUS reports, the disruptions have been so bad that they aren’t just hurting the criminals and communists who hurt America by investigating Elon Musk, but also decent Americans in Republican districts, prompting some Republicans to bleat — very carefully, without implying any fault on the behalf of Trump or His Chosen Billionaire — that maybe we should keep some aid going, not for Those People Over There, who can probably die for all they care, but for Our Brave Farmers.
“President Trump and his team need to turn this stuff back on. You know, it’s one thing to find a few programs that are bad or being mismanaged, but just a blanket turn off impacts our farmers,” Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, told NOTUS.
Bacon expressed surprise that leopards appeared to be eyeing his own face, even though he is named after a delicious pork product.
Despite a promise from thoroughly spineless Trump henchman Marco Rubio, who is somehow the secretary of State, that some emergency food and medical aid would receive waivers so it could be delivered, the waivers seem more of a fictional fig leaf than anything. Plus, USAID’s inspector general was recently fired (illegally, as you’d expect) for releasing a report estimating that nearly half a billion dollars worth of food aid was going to waste — stuck in ports, or in transit with no plans to distribute it, or just plain rotting in warehouses.
But Republicans have very bravely been saying that they cautiously like food aid, since it’s good for American farmers and probably helps the US reputation abroad, as if we should care.
Rep. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, seemed pretty chuffed at the idea that food aid was still moving, at least on Friday, though we haven’t really seen any proof it’s actually going to people who need it.
“This food is going places, and I love it. I mean, it’s packaged with an American flag printed on it. […] It’s good diplomacy, and quite frankly, if we can address food insecurity, it reduces the likelihood of us having to do any intervention abroad if there’s terrorism or war.”
Yes, that’s always been the rationale, but again, is, um, that happening? Since last Thursday, when a judge ordered aid work resume, we haven’t seen any reports of the aid actually being unlocked, delivered, moved from ships to refugee camps, or even converted to biodiesel or dumped because it spoiled.
Maybe everything’s all fine again and we’re just missing the happy news when we search “US food aid resumes” and similar terms. We sure will feel silly if that turns out to be the case!
Also did a Republican just utter the words “food insecurity?” Because them’s woke words if you ask us!
Last week, several Republicans who are fans of USAID’s “Food For Peace” program, its biggest aid program internationally, introduced a bill to move Food For Peace from USAID directly to the Department of Agriculture, which hasn’t been shut down just yet, possibly because Elon Musk doesn’t currently own any farms. Supporters of the change made some muted mouth noises about how the program “fits” better with USDA, but also didn’t deny that they hoped changing its institutional mailing address might help spare it, and the farmers who sell it food, from the DOGE axe.
“It’s a good program, and it’s something that we need to continue. If it would help to keep it going, to put it into an agency that people have more confidence in, then I’m all for that,” Rep. Dan Newhouse, an early co-sponsor, told NOTUS. […]
“It’s a twofer. It helps agriculture, helps our farmers and it advances U.S. policy if it’s done right. And we want to make sure it’s done right,” Republican Sen. John Hoeven, a member of the Agriculture Committee and a lead sponsor of the legislation in the Senate, told NOTUS.
Needless to say, both Hoeven and Ag Committee chair Thompson said they don’t oppose Trump’s freeze on foreign aid, even though they’re both trying to save their pet version of it. Thompson said it was just too bad that, umm, the “temporary” freeze had become all “political,” but you bet we need to make sure any aid is proper and not fraud, OK?
Other Republicans, like Ag Committee member Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin), were all in on Trump halting foreign aid, because he’s pretty sure taxpayer funds for USAID might be “feeding terrorists. And USAID is a pit of vipers,” he added, without pointing out any particular vipers other than those libs who definitely want to feed terrorists, that’s just common sense. Besides, he added, presumably with a perfectly straight face, “The Trump administration loves our farmers nearly as much as I do.” (Correction: We misread the wiki and initially wrote that Van Ordure was from Minnesota. He was borned there but represents the Cheese and Gerrymander State.)
Everything is fine, OK? Just take a relaxing flight on an airplane and stop worrying so much, OK?
OPEN THREAD.
[NOTUS / AP / ProPublica / USAID IG report]
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Open Thread Chat Feb. 18. Where's my UFO, I wanna be abducted. https://substack.com/chat/1783367/post/fdb2b812-ff40-4908-8f86-b77a3e295e0c
Ronald Reagan started the bullshit about Food Stamps, school lunches, and the like being a handout for those lucky duck poors, but these programs were created to help farmers, meat producers, and food processors. It's corporate welfare, but repubs in Congress are too stupid to remember that. Fortunately for them, the food producers are too chickenshit to do anything about it.