House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member David Scott today released the below statement after U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Biden-Harris Administration is providing $2.3 billion to support American farmers, students who participate in school meal programs, and emergency food operations.  

"Today's announcement is further evidence of what Democratic Members of the Agriculture Committee have long said: production agriculture and nutrition go hand-in-hand," said Ranking Member Scott. "With the critical funding announced today, we continue to walk the walk by supporting the farmers who produce our food and the people who need it most: our nation's children. For our nation to remain strong we must take care of each other, and that means ensuring no child in this country goes hungry. I thank Secretary Vilsack and the Biden-Harris Administration for staying laser-focused on the farmers who feed America and the schools and families who look after our most precious and vulnerable members of society, our kids."

With funding made available through USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, the Department will provide nearly $1.3 billion for states to purchase foods to be distributed to schools for their meal programs and nearly $1 billion for states to order commodities from USDA vendors for emergency food providers, like food banks and community kitchens, as they face high demand and supply chain disruptions. The investment is part of USDA’s broader efforts to make nutritious food grown by American producers more accessible for families and students. 

Background

Food Purchases for School Meals:  

USDA is providing nearly $1.3 billion to states and territories to purchase domestic foods to be distributed to schools, bringing the total amount of additional commodity support for school meals to nearly $3.8 billion since December 2021. This additional funding is needed to address elevated food and labor costs that will continue to affect school meal programs into the 2023-2024 school year, when schools will lose the added, temporary financial support Congress had authorized for the 2022-2023 school year in the bipartisan Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022.

Today’s action is one of many USDA has taken to ensure schools have the support and resources they need to continue providing nutritious meals to help children grow, learn, and thrive.

Commodity Purchases for Emergency Food Providers: 

To help support the millions of families in America facing food and nutrition insecurity, USDA is providing nearly $1 billion for commodity purchases from U.S. farmers to support the emergency food network. This comes as approximately 1 in 9 American households report they have sometimes or often not had enough to eat in the last week. The nationwide expiration of the pandemic-related SNAP Emergency Allotments, which temporarily provided approximately $3 billion in additional benefits to SNAP participants each month, has left families without assistance they have relied on for nearly three years. This latest round of funding, in addition to the nearly $1 billion previously provided in September 2022, will allow states to order American-grown commodities from USDA for emergency food providers. These investments and several other USDA actions to support emergency food providers will help them meet rising demand into FY24 and help ensure no one in America goes without the nutrition they need.