Foreign Food Aid Incinerated

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, this week The Atlantic reported that the Trump administration is planning to incinerate $800,000 worth of high- nutrition biscuits, food that was meant for starving children in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

These are not snacks. These are fortified, lifesaving meals. It gets worse. The administration will spend $130,000 just to destroy them. These are resources that could feed children anywhere in the world instead of going up in smoke.

This is more than wasteful. It is cruel. It is part of a broader, draconian foreign policy that puts ideology ahead of humanity. The administration has made it clear that it will not send out aid until countries vote in a certain way or make trade deals.

The Trump administration claims it is putting America first, but these policies put America last. When we offer food aid, we are not just fighting hunger, we are building goodwill. We are preventing famine. We are strengthening global stability and reducing the risk of conflict. That is what soft power looks like. When we abandon it, we abandon our values, our influence, and our moral leadership in this world.

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