Senate approves farm bill without cut in funding for food-aid shipments

Senate approves farm bill without cut in funding for food-aid shipments

The Senate in December approved an amended version of the Food and Energy Security Act of 2007 that would not cut funding for P.L. 480 food-aid shipments in U.S.-flagged vessels under the Food for Peace program.

In its 2008 budget request, the Bush administration proposed diverting up to 25 percent of the funding for Food for Peace to a pilot program that would deliver cash, rather than U.S. agricultural cargoes, to nations receiving U.S. food-aid.

The Senate approved its version of H.R. 2419, “the farm bill,” Dec. 14 by a vote of 79-14. The legislation passed by the Senate authorizes a pilot program that would allow foreign nations to use money from the U.S. to purchase food locally in non-emergency situations. However, the money for the pilot program would be drawn from a Foreign Assistance Act account rather than diverted from the funding for P.L. 480 food-aid shipments.

Earlier last year, the House of Representatives approved its version of H.R. 2419 without authorization for the pilot program. The differences between the two bills will need to be reconciled by a conference committee, but neither version threatens the U.S. Food for Peace program.

Maritime labor opposes the administration’s proposed diversion of money from Food for Peace. Under a cargo preference provision in the Food Security Act of 1985, 75 percent of all cargoes generated under P.L. 480 Title II (Food for Peace) are reserved for U.S.-flagged vessels, which employ American merchant mariners. The Food Security Act amended the Cargo Preference Act of 1954.

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