More than 80 representatives in the U.S. House of Delegates are demanding an investigation into the U.S. Department of State’s decision to spend an additional $300,000 in taxpayer dollars to destroy food and contraceptives overseas.
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Members Grace Meng of New York and Lois Frankel of Florida, and Rep. Judy Chu of California, Chair of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus’s Contraception, Family Planning, and Education Task Force, led 79 representatives in demanding an investigation into the destruction of nearly 500 metric tons of life-saving emergency food aid and $9.7 million worth of contraceptives.
The Trump Administration made the decision in July to destroy the food and contraceptives rather than distribute them as intended or work with another trusted partner willing to take over distribution.
In the letter addressed to Acting Inspector General for the U.S. Department of State Arne B. Baker, the lawmakers condemned the State Department’s decision as financial mismanagement that squanders taxpayer dollars and a moral failure, abandoning vulnerable populations who depend on U.S. aid to survive.
The food was stored in a warehouse in Dubai and scheduled to expire in July. The contraceptives were stored in Belgium with USAID labels and would not expire until between 2027 and 2031.
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‘Ideological constraints’: Trump orders $10M in USAID-labeled birth control to be destroyed
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Rebecca Barnabi
