Why the Trump Administration Is About Set Fire to 500 Tons of Emergency Food
Toward the end of the Biden administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spent about $800,000 on high-energy biscuits used to help people impacted by natural disasters or fleeing war, according to a report by The Atlantic. Following Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the food meant for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan reportedly languished in a Dubai warehouse as Trump and former DOGE chief Elon Musk dismantled much of the federal government, including the government’s foreign aid department.
The publication said that previously, career staff could have handed off the biscuits to the World Food Programme to distribute them, but employees said that since Musk’s so-called DOGE devastated USAID — firing and placing thousands of workers on leave — aid items cannot move without the new political leaders of the agency. And while the responsibility originally was given to Trump appointee Pete Marocco, it passed to Jeremy Lewin, who became deputy administrator for policy and programs for what’s left of USAID. Staffers who sent the memos requesting approval to move the emergency food said they never got a response, however, and its unclear if either Marocco or Lewin ever received the memos.
Now, enough to feed about 1.5 million children for a week — equal to nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food — is set to expire today, The Atlantic reports. Despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio ensuring representative s on the House Appropriations Committee in May that food aid would reach its intended recipients, the Trump administration reportedly plans to spend $130,000 to burn the biscuits instead of sending them to children in need.
Topic: Seems so wasteful by Trump? 500 tons of food is a good amount (Read 218 times)