House Democrats have released two important facts in a report to Congress this month. First, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s widely panned food-box scheme, a signature Trump administration program, funneled billions of taxpayer dollars to inexperienced, underqualified organizations to distribute food to food banks—and the needy Americans they assist—during the Covid pandemic. The USDA did not seem to be able to control its own thumbs despite allegations of incompetence and waste.
The report adds to the evidence that previous claims have been proven false. It shows how the program, which was taxpayer funded, paid contractors at a premium over the market for food. This placed undue pressures on food pantries and food banks already taxed. Finally, it failed to adequately supervise the potential fraudsters. reported The CounterThere I am also ContributeIn a last week piece on the new congressional reports,
The Trump Administration created a program called Harvest Boxes in early 2018 to replace certain parts of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. According to the plan, USDA would gutThe overpriced SNAP Program, CostsTaxpayers spend more than $85 trillion a year.
Harvest Box’s premise was very simple. Instead of giving qualified people funds they may only spend on approved foods—SNAP—why not just give those same people food? The program included the purchase by government of surplus food from U.S. farms worth billions of dollars.
Its basic premise was, however, deeply flawed. A 2018 report I wrote about this. ColumnThere was a lot of criticism about the Harvest Box program from everyone. Why?Eric Boehm It is likened toTo “Amazon Prime” but only for horrible canned foods selected by bureaucrats. Rep. Jim McGovern (D–Mass.) So calledHarvest Boxes would be a “cruel and mean and awful idea” and take away families’ ability to pick the groceries that they want. USA TodayThe editorial board Do not use the hyphen“A program from Cold War Bulgaria,” it was. The Harvest Box program, I stated, was “truly rotten at the core” and not worthy of consideration.
The USDA changed the structure of the Harvest Box program to accommodate the COVID-19 epidemic that ravaged the nation. My May 2020 article titled “Farmers to Families Food Box Program” ColumnIt was simply “a Covid-era packaging of the Administration’s much-ridiculed Harvest Box Scheme.”
This is the new, 63-page Congress report. What is the difference between farmers and families?The following article examines the USDA program in greater detail, with a focus on three companies that had “questionable” experience and were “underqualified”. They were awarded nearly $100 Million to help provide food boxes for food banks throughout the United States.
CRE8AD8, which is a Texas-based wedding and event planning company, was among the businesses that won a contract. CRE8AD8, a Texas-based wedding and event planning company, stated, “The business didn’t have experience in the industry. They had no equipment, licenses, trucks, or facilities.” Texas Standard reportedSummer 2020 “It failed to meet its $40 million contract. This contract was never renewed.
CRE8AD8 may have earned nearly $8 million in profits, according to a new congressional report. These transactions didn’t just benefit CRE8AD8, but many others. According to the congressional report, “CRE8AD8 verified that Food Box Program contractors paid significantly more than the market price. Producers and farmers received from CRE8AD8 prices up to tenfold what they would receive at grocery shops.”
Although it is quite distressing, all of these are not news. Last year I pointed out that ReportsAccording to the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, “millions of dollars were awarded to businesses with very little to no experience in bulk food distribution,”
While making much that same point, the new congressional report concludes the USDA should “take more care in evaluating contractors, issue and enforce guidance on eligible partner organizations and emergency pricing… when designing and implementing future food distribution programs.”
Sorry, Future Are there food distribution programmes? Was Congress not taught anything from the wastefulness of this? (No. Congress learned nothing. Congress didn’t learn any.
Government food boxes can provide people with food at a significantly higher price than they need. These food boxes can waste money and not even provide the food. SNAP is a different program. It gives eligible people money that they can spend only on approved foods. His shareFraud and waste
What if neither food boxes nor SNAP are enough? shouldThese programs should be replaced? My argument is that the federal government should grant cash to people who are eligible so that they can use it for their basic necessities. We must not forget about future food distribution programmes.