As the U.S. Senate has been busy working on legislation on Iran’s nuclear program and global trade, there are other issues on the Senate’s plate that have critical importance to America’s role in the world. The same week that our own Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., shepherded legislation on the Iran nuclear deal, he also focused his attention on the important issue of feeding the world’s hungriest people. As the people of Chattanooga and Tennessee have come to know, Sen. Corker is a pragmatic problem solver and he is bringing that pragmatism and bipartisan commitment to strengthen American’s leadership on international food aid.
As we engage in the world today, there is no shortage of crises facing the United States and our allies. In many of these crises, there are extremists who are gaining their strength by taking advantage of fragile states and exploiting people’s poverty for their own ends. Our nation is guided by higher principles, and we have the resolve and resources to provide those living in desperate circumstances with hope and a helping hand from the United States. This not only saves lives and reduces hunger, but also works to ensure our own national security and prosperity for the long-term.
U.S. food aid programs have a long history since the end of World War II with the emergence of the Marshall Plan in the late 1940s and the creation of Food for Peace in the early 1960s. For the past seven decades, these programs have provided life-saving food assistance to tens of millions of people affected by conflict, natural disasters and other underlying causes of hunger. However, things have changed in the past 70 years of food aid. U.S. farmers are no longer plagued with unsold surplus, but instead are shipping billions of dollars worth of farm produce around the world. The cost of farm commodities and shipping them has risen substantially since the 1950s. In addition, the way we deliver food aid can delay the delivery of these critical supplies to countries in need, particularly after sudden emergencies like natural disasters. This can potentially have adverse effects on the very people we are trying to help.
While we are to be proud of the impact these programs continue to have on the global community, there are always ways to refine our foreign assistance programs and make them even more cost-effective for the American taxpayer. One area where we can make significant improvement is ensuring that American food aid has the flexibility to feed even more individuals suffering from hunger and catastrophe around the world. The current lack of flexibility includes issues as simple as not allowing food to be sourced locally or regionally – closer to where people are in need – and restricting use of internationally-flagged ships. This is where pending actions by Congress can make a world of difference.
Over the years, Sen. Corker has studied U.S. food aid programs and asked how America can be more effective in ending global hunger and malnutrition. Recently, Sen. Corker’s committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, held a bipartisan hearing on international food aid and why reforming these programs would be of benefit both to those in the developing world and the American taxpayer. This hearing built upon the bipartisan legislation that he and his colleague Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., introduced earlier this year to reform Food for Peace and other food aid programs.
Reforms in this legislation could yield $440 million in savings and reach more than 12 million more people in need of food aid, according to Sen. Corker. Specific reforms would allow for greater flexibility on where food aid is obtained, depending on which option is the most cost-effective. This legislation would also give greater flexibility to U.S. development agencies to use readily available ships – American-flagged or internationally-flagged – to deliver U.S. food aid.
There are some who argue that these reforms could hurt the American farmer and their ability to send products overseas. U.S. farmers sold abroad in 2014 a record $142.6 billion, and food aid represents less than 1 percent of those exports. So, the proposed efficiency reforms will have no impact on a state like Tennessee, which is already exporting nearly $1.9 billion in agriculture products annually.
Sen. Corker and his colleagues believe that there are better ways to empower the United States to use all of its tools to combat global hunger and demonstrate our leadership and values. In a time of high budget deficits, we are continually faced with tough decisions on the best use of taxpayer dollars. These common-sense reforms are a cost-effective way to employ our humanitarian values around the world and help others in the process. And these modest investments in food security through the work of the International Affairs Budget can greatly benefit the American people by enhancing our economic prosperity and national security.
George Ingram is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and chairman emeritus of the U. S. Global Leadership Coalition. Neil Thomas is a Hamilton County Circuit Court judge.