Video: Kaine Grills Trump Administration Over Incineration of Food for Starving Children
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), grilled Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Michael Rigas over the Trump Administration’s order to incinerate 500 metric tons of emergency food, which the U.S. had already purchased to feed starving children. Reuters reported in May that the food was being stored at a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) warehouse in Dubai and was set to expire in July. The news of the incineration of this food was reported on Monday by The Atlantic.
“Yesterday, The Atlantic reported that the expiration date on those 500 tons of nutritious food for starving kids was now upon us, and the U.S. had decided to incinerate that food rather than allow starving children to have it,” said Kaine. “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?”
Rigas responded, “I’d have to look into that particular 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.
“If it’s been expired, my understanding is it’s the policy of the government to not distribute expired food or medicine,” Rigas responded.
“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 pressed.
“I don’t have a good answer for that question,” Rigas said. “I am as distressed about that as you are.”
Rigas continued, “I think that this was just a casualty of the shutdown of USAID.”
“I view at as an intentional thing,” Kaine continued. “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.”
“I’d have to look into what the facts of the matter were,” Rigas responded.
“Sometimes the tiniest detail really exposes the soul,” Kaine concluded. “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.”
Rigas concluded by saying that he would look into it and find out what happened.
Video of Kaine raising The Atlantic’s reporting during the July 15 SFRC nominations hearing for U.S. Representative Michael Waltz to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. John Arrigo to be U.S. Ambassador to Portugal, and Ms. Christine Toretti to be U.S. Ambassador to Sweden is available here.
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