WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing regarding U.S. international food aid programs following a similarly themed hearing last week by the House Agriculture Committee (
USA Rice Daily, September 30, 2015). While the Agriculture Committee focused mostly on the importance of maintaining in-kind food aid contributions by U.S. agriculture, the Foreign Affairs Committee targeted reforming food aid programs to allow for more flexibility and more use of cash vouchers.
Congressman Randy Weber (R-TX), a Member of the Committee and representative of a significant number of rice-growing acres, was the lone voice in support of distributing in-kind commodity contributions to food aid recipients.
When Rep. Weber provided his comments to the witnesses, he said, “Last week, Jamie Warshaw, with USA Rice, testified before my counterparts on the Agriculture Committee regarding the strong amount of good that comes with a bag of rice that reads “From the American People.”
A clip of Rep. Weber’s comments during the hearing can be found here.