Last week, we shared news of vital reforms to the US food aid system passed by Congress. Today, we're happy to report that President Obama has just signed those reforms into law as part of the new Farm Bill.
For years, you've been fighting with us to help make food aid reform a reality: you've sent emails, tweeted, called, visited your elected officials, and more. All that work is starting to pay off. The reforms signed into law today represent an important step to ensure that our food aid system is more efficient, effective and flexible, and can reach more people with lifesaving aid in a timely fashion.
Here are the highlights of what President Obama signed into law today:
- More food aid will be purchased locally, instead of being shipped in from across the world. This is both cheaper and more effective than the current system – we estimate that it could help reach millions of additional people with lifesaving aid.
- New measures are included to end monetization, a wasteful practice where food is purchased from American farmers, shipped abroad, and then sold to raise money for poverty-fighting programs.
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