WASHINGTON — Bread for the World is celebrating a victory in Congress that benefits people who are hungry around the world through U.S. food aid. Congress passed a bill funding the Coast Guard for 2015 that rolled back proposals to increase subsidies to the world’s largest shipping companies to ship U.S. food aid.
“This is the fruit of faithful, persistent advocacy,” said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “We have been working hard on U.S. food aid issues through our partnerships and our Offering of Letters campaign in 2014. In that work (we) were able to ensure money for U.S. food aid goes to feed people in need and not line the pockets of a few shipping companies.”
The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 originally introduced by the House of Representatives in 2013 sought to increase the percentage of food aid that is shipped on American vessels from 50 percent to 75 percent. The change would have increased transportation costs for food aid by $75 million annually.
“This is a great win for us but we must remain vigilant and continue to hold our leaders accountable,” Beckmann said. “We must ensure that resources set aside for food aid go to the 805 million undernourished people around the world and not to a few shipping companies.”
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