Post by revirdsuba99 on Oct 27, 2017 15:32:06 GMT
The case for food aid reform
BY VINCENT SMITH AND RYAN NABIL, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 10/27/17 11:00 AM EDT
The solution: three simple reforms to the emergency food aid legislation at no additional cost to U.S. taxpayers. These changes would allow the United States to feed up to an additional 10 million people in these countries, improve peace and stability, and stem the flow of new refugees.
The first reform would end the “food sourcing” mandate requiring the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to obtain almost all food aid from the United States, instead of procuring food from the least expensive source of supply, whether in the United States, or most often from regions and countries much closer to where the aid is needed.
The second reform would end the “cargo preference” mandate, which requires that at least half of all food aid be shipped on U.S. flagged vessels, at freight rates often 40 percent higher than internationally competitive rates. Combined, these two changes would reduce the costs of delivering aid by over $300 million a year, enabling USAID and USDA to help millions of people in dire circumstances.
An additional $70 million a year could be saved by ending the bizarre practice known as “monetization.” Monetization involves giving food commodities to non-government organizations to resell. The food is shipped from the United States to a low-income country, sold in local markets, and the proceeds are then used for longer term development projects. The process wastes between 30 cents and 50 cents of every monetization dollar, substantively restricting the ability of the United States to help starving refugees and broken communities rife for Islamic State recruitment efforts in Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The whole article in link:
thehill.com/opinion/international/357476-the-case-for-food-aid-reform
Please keep this in mind when dt wants to reactive the Jones Act for Puerto Rico, hopefully he won't.
American citizens should NOT have have fewer rights then citizens of other countries.
BY VINCENT SMITH AND RYAN NABIL, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 10/27/17 11:00 AM EDT
The solution: three simple reforms to the emergency food aid legislation at no additional cost to U.S. taxpayers. These changes would allow the United States to feed up to an additional 10 million people in these countries, improve peace and stability, and stem the flow of new refugees.
The first reform would end the “food sourcing” mandate requiring the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to obtain almost all food aid from the United States, instead of procuring food from the least expensive source of supply, whether in the United States, or most often from regions and countries much closer to where the aid is needed.
The second reform would end the “cargo preference” mandate, which requires that at least half of all food aid be shipped on U.S. flagged vessels, at freight rates often 40 percent higher than internationally competitive rates. Combined, these two changes would reduce the costs of delivering aid by over $300 million a year, enabling USAID and USDA to help millions of people in dire circumstances.
An additional $70 million a year could be saved by ending the bizarre practice known as “monetization.” Monetization involves giving food commodities to non-government organizations to resell. The food is shipped from the United States to a low-income country, sold in local markets, and the proceeds are then used for longer term development projects. The process wastes between 30 cents and 50 cents of every monetization dollar, substantively restricting the ability of the United States to help starving refugees and broken communities rife for Islamic State recruitment efforts in Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The whole article in link:
thehill.com/opinion/international/357476-the-case-for-food-aid-reform
Please keep this in mind when dt wants to reactive the Jones Act for Puerto Rico, hopefully he won't.
American citizens should NOT have have fewer rights then citizens of other countries.
