<
https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/texas-food-banks-flood-survivors-trump-funding-cuts/>
"Early in the morning on July 4th, as torrential rains battered Central Texas,
the dangers of flash floods became imminent. In Kerr County, the Guadalupe
River rose 26 feet within 45 minutes, leading to the deaths of 106 people. As
the catastrophic deluge swept throughout the region, the death toll climbed to
at least 132.
Later that day, President Donald Trump signed the
One Big Beautiful Bill Act
into law. The law gutted public food and healthcare safety nets, including the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid, while also codifying
massive tax breaks for wealthier individuals and major corporations. The
devastation in Texas, then, became the first major disaster to expose the grave
effects of Trump’s extensive disinvestment from disaster resilience programs —
and his administration’s newest food and hunger policies.
Charitable groups such as food banks and pantries typically serve as frontline
distributors of food and water in a time of a crisis, working in tandem with
other responding national and global relief organizations and government
agencies. Now, though, because of the policy and funding decisions enacted by
the Trump administration over the last six months, the primary food banks that
are responding to the needs of residents throughout central Texas have less
food to distribute.
Near the beginning of Trump’s second term, the Department of Agriculture
stopped the flow of some of the money that pays for deliveries of products like
meats, eggs, and vegetables known as “bonus commodities” through The Emergency
Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, to charitable organizations like food banks.
TEFAP is one of the primary ways that state and federal governments have
ensured food reaches communities in need in the aftermath of climate-fueled
disasters like a hurricane or heatwave.
In March, the USDA also moved to end future rounds of funding for the Local
Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food for
Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. These two programs, which are also
designed to support emergency food providers such as food banks, were slated to
distribute more than a billion dollars this fiscal year to states, tribes, and
territories.
In April, the funding cuts drove the Central Texas Food Bank to cancel 39 loads
of food — the equivalent of 716,000 meals — scheduled to be delivered through
September, said Beth Corbett, the organization’s vice president of government
affairs and advocacy. The state of Texas lost more than $107 million for
programs that allowed food banks and schools to buy food locally because of the
administration’s funding cuts, the Austin Monitor and KUT reported. The San
Antonio Food Bank also endured similar losses to its inventory.
San Antonio Food Bank’s president and CEO Eric Cooper told
Grist he is
consumed by concern that they may not be able to meet the emergency food demand
prompted by the flooding tragedy in central Texas."
Via Joyce Donahue.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
