Ed Royce: “The gentleman has expressed concern about accountability. With all due respect, allow me to dispel a myth. We are not…”

“The gentleman has expressed concern about accountability. With all due respect, allow me to dispel a myth. We are not talking about sending bags of cash to foreign governments so they can spend it on whatever they want. No matter the form, U.S. food assistance is now and will continue to be subject to multiple levels of scrutiny and monitoring and evaluation. The Food for Peace Program maintains strong accountability for funds. Food aid will continue to be branded with U.S. aid logos, prominently displayed on all program- related materials regardless of whether the food is purchased in the United States or in the affected region. That is the way this program works. And according to the Secretary of Defense, the Defense Department supports the President's proposed reform, supports this reform of the food aid program, and the Defense Department has assessed that it will not affect U.S. maritime readiness or national security obviously in any way since these are non- militarily useful ships under foreign ownership anyway, for the most part. Mr. Chairman, this is about fixing a broken system. Our food aid takes too long to arrive and costs too much to get there.…”