A bipartisan group of senators have voiced concerns to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack about disruptions to a federal program that provides essential food deliveries to income-eligible Native American households.
For the past few months, tribal families have experienced extreme disruptions in food deliveries under the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), receiving only partial deliveries or none at all. The disruptions follow an attempt by the USDA to consolidate its warehouse operations last spring.
In the Aug. 23 letter, which was first reported by the Associated Press, the senators urge the USDA to take immediate action to restore food deliveries and engage in meaningful consultation with impacted tribes.
“We are deeply concerned about the crisis unfolding with the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) program,” the letter notes. “Participating households have not had consistent food deliveries for over four months. This is unacceptable.”
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), John Hoeven (R-ND), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) , and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) signed the letter. Mullin, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, is the only Native American serving in the Senate.
The disruptions began in April, after the USDA consolidated operators for FDPIR down to a single source: Kansas City, Missouri-based Paris Brothers, Inc. Once the consolidation of warehouse operations commenced, food distribution program administrators across the country began having problems getting food in on time, if at all.
“Deliveries are not showing up, and we don’t know they’re missing until they don’t show up,” Mary Greene Trottier, president of the National Association for FDPIR, told Tribal Business News in a July 13 story. “We’re hearing from almost every tribe participating in the program that they’ve been impacted in some way.”
Speaking on background for that same story, a USDA representative attributed the disruptions to “challenges with scaling operations” once all the demand fell onto a singular contractor. The agency has since held weekly meetings with impacted tribal organizations, but hasn’t established a timeline for resuming normal operations.
According to an Associated Press report on Friday, the USDA has also promised to undertake a review of its procurement process, and offered $11 million to tribal nations to address food shortages. Trottier, who administers FDPIR for the Spirit Lake Nation, said she isn’t sure the money will be enough, however.
“[People are] going without,” Trottier told the AP. “Imagine showing up at the grocery store during Covid or a winter blizzard, and the shelves are empty. That’s the feeling that they get.”
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