In a letter dated April 7, more than 90 companies and organizations – including American seagoing labor unions, farming and agriculture interests and ground transportation operations – requested full support from Congress for vital U.S. food-aid programs.
The letter, to which American Maritime Officers and American Maritime Officers Service are signatories, was addressed to Congressmen Andy Harris (R-MD), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Agriculture, and Sanford Bishop (D-GA), ranking member on the subcommittee, and to Senators John Hoeven (R-ND), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Agriculture, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member on the subcommittee.
“Each year our nation’s international food-aid programs, including P.L. 480 Food for Peace Title II, Food for Progress, and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education, help reach millions of vulnerable people around the world, while also putting America First. These Buy American programs have enjoyed significant bipartisan support for 70 years,” they wrote. “We, the undersigned organizations, respectfully request Congress continue to fully support these programs and that the fiscal year 2026 agriculture appropriations funding for Food for Peace be increased to $1.75 billion and to increase McGovern-Dole to $243,331,000, as they were appropriated in FY 2023.
“Food for Peace, Food for Progress, and McGovern-Dole not only benefit the recipients, but also U.S. economic and national security interests.”