While many things have changed under the Trump administration, the United States’ misconception of global poverty has not. Just this last June the U.S. ambassador to the UN criticized a report made addressing poverty and human rights in the U.S. She stated that it was ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America. This conflict demonstrates a viewpoint held in large part by the American public.
Instead of seeing the interconnections between the United States’ socioeconomic welfare and the levels of poverty worldwide, many Americans believe that foreign countries are already benefiting from U.S. aid. However, a study conducted in 2014 revealed that most Americans grossly overestimate the amount of spending for foreign aid. Rather than 26 percent of the U.S. budget going towards aid, as the average respondent thought, a mere 1 percent is allotted. This assistance trails behind most developed countries contribution relative to their GDP.
Despite the current ambassador’s wish to ignore poverty in the U.S., the fact remains that 12.7 percent of Americans live in poverty according to the 2016 U.S. Census. To help reduce these levels, U.S. foreign aid should be more effectively distributed to make the most impact in foreign communities, thereby opening them to U.S. markets. Communities barely surviving on a day-to -day basis can benefit from U.S. aid which would enable them to raise themselves out of poverty. The more stable their standard of living, the more likely they’ll become consumers of U.S. products, which they would otherwise have been unable to afford.
But in order to achieve these mutual benefits, major flaws in the farm bill must be rectified. Currently, only 30 percent of the Food for Peace funding, part of the U.S. Farm Bill legislation, actually goes to food. This deprives 75 million people at risk of starvation of the food aid they need. The missing 70 percent of funding is drained away by the “monetization” requirements set in the bill. This clause requires USAID to purchase food produced in the U.S. as well as send the food only on U.S. flagged vessels to be distributed to aid organizations. Clearly this legislation does not meet its goal of effectively providing aid to these foreign communities.
To fix this issue, Senators Bob Corker and Chris Coons as well as Representatives Ed Royce and Earl Blumenauer have introduced the Food for Peace Modernization Act to Congress. This bill will eliminate the monetization requirement, give USAID the flexibility to distribute aid more effectively and quickly, while ensuring that a minimum of 25 percent of the Food for Peace budget will continue to be used to purchase and transport food aid from our US farmers.
I call on our senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to join them in supporting the Food for Peace Modernization Act and take a stand against the dissemination of “alternative truths” and misconceptions perpetuated by our UN ambassador and today’s administration.
