Trump freezes $1 billion in meals assist given to native faculties and meals banks to assist low-income households | EUROtoday

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The Department of Agriculture has slashed over $1 billion in funding geared toward serving to faculties and meals banks buy from native farmers, in keeping with a nonprofit.

“Multiple states” have been lately notified of those cuts, the nonprofit School Nutrition Association mentioned in an announcement Tuesday.

An estimated $660 million in funds via the Local Food for Schools program for 2025 will now not be obtainable to help childcare establishments and faculties, the group added.

“This program will strengthen the food system for schools and childcare institutions by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from historically underserved producers and processors,” the USDA web site says concerning the Local Food for Schools program.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education confirmed it acquired a discover of termination from the USDA on Friday of the second spherical of Local Food for Schools grant funding, an award of $12.2 million, claiming that they “determined this agreement no longer effectuates agency priorities and that termination of the award is appropriate,” the state’s governor Maura Healy mentioned in a Monday assertion.

The governor recommended the cuts have been made as a part of a Department of Government Efficiency-led effort to cut back spending within the federal authorities.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have declared that feeding children and supporting local farmers are no longer ‘priorities,’ and it’s just the latest terrible cut with real impact on families across Massachusetts,” mentioned Governor Healey. “There is nothing ‘appropriate’ about it. Trump and Musk are continuing to withhold essential funding in violation of court orders, and our children, farmers and small businesses are bearing the brunt of it.”

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which offers meals to meals banks and organizations that attain underserved communities, was additionally included within the cuts, Politico reported. An estimated $420 million of federal funds have been anticipated to go towards this system in 2025, the USDA web site reveals.

A USDA spokesperson advised the outlet that funding “is no longer available and those agreements will be terminated following 60-day notification.” The spokesperson added: “These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency. LFPA and LFPA Plus agreements that were in place prior to LFPA 25, which still have substantial financial resources remaining, will continue to be in effect for the remainder of the period of performance.”

Congress can also be weighing cuts to high school meal applications, the School Nutrition Association warned in its announcement. The nonprofit urged the general public to name on Congress members to oppose these cuts.

“With research showing school meals are the healthiest meals Americans eat, Congress needs to invest in underfunded school meal programs rather than cut services critical to student achievement and health,” mentioned the group’s president Shannon Gleave. “These proposals would cause millions of children to lose access to free school meals at a time when working families are struggling with rising food costs. Meanwhile, short-staffed school nutrition teams, striving to improve menus and expand scratch-cooking, would be saddled with time-consuming and costly paperwork created by new government inefficiencies.”