Ed Royce: “I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I want to compliment the chairman and the ranking member for…”

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I want to compliment the chairman and the ranking member for the work that they have done to bring this bill to the floor, but this bill can be improved. There is growing bipartisan support for improving our international food assistance to ensure that more people are helped for less money. Unfortunately, this bill fails to advance international food aid reform, and it actually reverses progress achieved in the 2014 farm bill, legislation enacted by this body just a few months ago. It fails to provide flexibility, so that up to 25 percent of the Food for Peace title II budget would be exempt from U.S. purchase requirements. If enacted, this proposal would have generated over $100 million in efficiency savings and enabled the United States to reach an additional 2 million people in dire need of food aid. An effective international food aid program helps those in need, and it strengthens our international security. Finally, the bill fails to fund a congressionally authorized, broadly supported Local and Regional Procurement program. Following upon a successful pilot, the 2014 farm bill authorized $80 million per year for the Local and Regional Procurement program. That means we can buy food closer to the area in crisis, reducing transit time by more than 10 weeks, reducing the cost per food aid recipient by 20 to 30 percent. This was considered an important reform that won, again, broad bipartisan support.…”