Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman is pushing to return oversight of key foreign food aid programs to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), arguing the agency is far better suited to manage agricultural initiatives than the State Department. In a recent broadcast report, Farm Director KC Sheperd detailed the senator’s intentions to include this jurisdictional shift in the pending farm bill.
“That seems to be a much better fit in the sense, you know, who knows better about agriculture and crops than USDA as opposed to State,” Boozman said.
The proposed shift follows a historical restructuring where most U.S. foreign aid was transferred to the U.S. Department of State after President Donald Trump largely dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID serves as the federal agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and international development. Boozman wants specific initiatives, including the Food for Peace and the McGovern-Dole programs, officially moved back under the USDA umbrella.
Because other congressional committees currently oversee the State Department, Boozman acknowledges that transferring these programs requires inter-committee cooperation and navigating legislative boundaries.
“We aren’t the committee of jurisdiction; we’re trying to get it moved into our committee, and always, you know, you have committees that lose jurisdiction sometimes; that’s a little bit of a problem,” Boozman noted.
Despite potential hurdles over shifting jurisdictions, Boozman shared that committee leaders from both parties are actively working on the matter and expressed optimism about a resolution.
“The plan is for it to be in this legislation if we can come to an agreement, but I feel like we’re heading in that direction,” Boozman added.
Programs like Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole serve a dual purpose, functioning not only to combat global hunger but also to support domestic agriculture by securing additional markets and stabilizing prices for U.S. farmers. As the head of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Boozman maintains that the upcoming farm bill provides the ideal legislative vehicle to execute this transition and align the programs with the agency best equipped to run them.
