WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, this week joined Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, for a forum entitled “The Role of Foreign Assistance in Supporting American Farmers and Protecting American Agriculture.” At the forum, Senator Welch examined how the Trump Administration’s continued attack on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), other governmental agencies, and federally-supported foreign assistance organizations have exacerbated global hunger.
“What strikes me is that there’s a fair amount of humility in folks who work in an organization—through Republican and Democratic administrations—where you have this expertise because you understand that you have to have institutions and structures to be able to sustain a food delivery system. Everything from how farmers grow, to averting pests, to coming up with delivery mechanisms to get food to people who need it,” said Senator Welch.
“One of the things that’s so disturbing to me about what is happening and the way it’s happening is that we’re destroying the capacity at every step along the way. And it’s not as though you can flip a switch and those people who have expertise suddenly are going to come back.”
Watch Senator Welch’s full remarks below:
“Vermont farmers—all farmers—they love to feed people…And now, it’s my understanding that we actually have food that is available for distribution, but it’s sitting in warehouses because of the cuts that have been made, so that the people who can take the food from the warehouse, outside of the doors of the warehouse, and put it on a table for hungry children to eat were not there—is that true?” asked Senator Welch.
Sarah Charles, Former Assistant to the Administrator for Humanitarian Assistance at USAID, testified: “It is certainly my understanding that the career staff that are left at USAID have been working furiously around the clock—even knowing that they’ve been fired—to find ways to get that food into the hands of partners that can use that food. The food is there…it has been bureaucratic process, after bureaucratic process, after bureaucratic process.”
Senators Welch, Shaheen, and Klobuchar were joined at the forum by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
Senator Welch has been a leading voice in pushing back against the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle and defund key federal agencies and food programs. Earlier this week, Senator Welch slammed the Trump Administration’s reckless request to rescind $9.4 billion in Fiscal Years (FY) 2024 and 2025 congressionally-appropriated funds, which provide vital support to Americans through public broadcasting and radio networks and promote U.S. global leadership.
Last month, Senator Welch led 29 of his Senate colleagues in introducing a resolution calling on the Trump Administration to use all diplomatic tools at its disposal to bring an end to the blockade of food and lifesaving humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians in Gaza.
In February, Senator Welch took to the Senate floor to speak on President Trump and Elon Musk’s unconstitutional actions to dismantle USAID and called on Congress to protect the agency, which has played an indispensable role in protecting the interests, security, and reputation of the United States around the globe. Senator Welch also sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding an urgent response to the baseless mass-firings of over 5,500 federal employees at USAID.
Senator Welch also joined colleagues in introducing the Foreign Assistance Accountability and Oversight Act, legislation to expand congressional oversight of foreign assistance decision-making by requiring the State Department’s Director of Foreign Assistance to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Last Congress, Senator Welch led the introduction of the Streamlining International Food Assistance Act to strengthen the United States’ ability to address global hunger by allowing USAID to use funds from the Food for Peace (FFP) food aid program to provide donations of U.S. commodities, alongside cash transfers and other forms of assistance, in an effort to better assist food insecure communities.
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