In May, the U.S. stored 500 metric tons of emergency food at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) warehouse in Dubai.
The food, intended to feed starving children, was going to expire in July. Last week, The Atlantic reported that the Trump Administration ordered the food be incinerated and not distributed.
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and grilled Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Michael Rigas on June 16 about the order during a hearing. The day before, Kaine placed The Atlantic article on Senate record during a nominations hearing for U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Arrigo to be U.S. Ambassador to Portugal and Christine Toretti to be U.S. Ambassador to Sweden.
“Mr. Rigas, you’re the Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources. These are resources that were purchased with U.S. taxpayer dollars. They’re specifically designed to save the lives of starving children. Why is it a good use of resources to not distribute that food to kids and instead burn it?” Kaine said.
Rigas was response was that he would look into the issue “and see how those foodstuffs got there.”
“I asked this question at a hearing yesterday so you would be prepared to know that I would ask it today, and we called your office to tell you that I would ask it today. So the notion that you need to look into it strikes me as a little bit odd. As you sit here today, is that food being distributed to kids or is it being incinerated?” Kaine asked.
According to Rigas, expired food or medications is not distributed per U.S. government policy.
“We’ve been asking Secretary Rubio about this back into March. Since it has been known for months that this food would have an expiration date, why has the State Department decided to burn it rather than distribute it to starving children?” Kaine said.
Rigas said he did not have “a good answer.”
“I am as distressed about that as you are,” Rigas said. He added that he thinks the situation was a casualty of USAID shutting down.
Kaine said he sees the burning of the emergency food as intentional.
“It’s not a mistake if you’ve been on notice of it for two months, and you’ve made the decision to keep the warehouse locked and allow this food to be destroyed rather than … feed at least 27,000 acutely malnourished children for a month,” Kaine said.
Rigas said he would look into the facts of what happened.
“Sometimes the tiniest detail really exposes the soul. A government that is put on notice — here are resources that will save 27,000 starving kids. Can you please distribute them or give them to someone who can? Who decides, ‘no, we would rather keep the warehouse locked, let the food expire, and then burn it?’ To me, that really exposes the soul of this endeavor,” Kaine said in concluded.
Rigas repeated that he would look into the situation.
In the nominations hearing on June 15, Kaine made a statement that the food intended for children and paid for with American tax dollars should not be incinerated. He asked Waltz, Arrigo and Toretti to respond whether they agreed with his statement or not. Waltz and Arrigo would not give definitive answers, but Toretti said she agreed that the food should not be wasted. Toretti said that her agreeing with Kaine’s statement did not mean she was judging the situation.
“I’m glad that you answered unequivocally. This is such a simple question. It’s such a simple question. If the U.S. has purchased food and its to be used for the eradication of starvation among children, we should give it to children and not incinerate it,” Kaine said.
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Rebecca Barnabi
