US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
Washington state is set to lose nearly $25 million this year to help schools and food banks feed hungry kids and families with fresh local food because of Trump and Elon’s senseless cuts at USDA
ICYMI: Senator Murray, Colleagues Condemn Trump Canceling USDA Local Food Purchasing Programs
***WATCH HERE***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, held a virtual press conference to call out the Trump administration’s recent, sudden, and senseless cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs that help local food banks, school districts, and child care centers purchase locally-grown produce, meat, seafood, and other food from farmers in Washington state.
Last month, the Trump administration inexplicably ripped away more than $660 million in funding for the Local Food for Schools Program (LFS)—which schools and child care facilities in Washington state use to purchase berries, meat, seafood, and more from local farmers and producers—as well as $500 million from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) and $500 million from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which helps food banks buy nutritious food from local farms for the communities they serve.
Washington state is set to lose nearly $25 million in federal funding it was set to receive from these programs this year alone—a $3.6 million cut to LFS, $11.8 million cut to LFPA, and a $10.5 million cut to TEFAP—and the Trump administration’s cuts have left schools and food banks scrambling to fill the gap.
“Right now, some of the richest and most powerful men in the world, are stealing food from our kids. Apparently, there is plenty of room in the budget for tax breaks that fork over billions of dollars to people who already have billions of dollars. But keeping kids fed—that’s a bridge too far for Trump. Keeping food banks stocked—that is just too expensive. Investing in our farmers, and our families—well that is just not as important as padding Elon’s pockets,” said Senator Murray on the press call today. “These programs support American farmers—by buying their products, like cherries, raspberries, blueberries, and other produce Washington state is known for, or nutritious salmon from local fishermen, and meat from local farms…And it is not just farmers getting hit—we’re talking about food banks that serve seniors, parents, and people struggling to make ends meet. Schools who rely on these programs to help feed their students, so all our kids are able to focus on their classes—not on a grumbling stomach…And we know at least 23 of our school districts in Washington state have already withdrawn from the program next school year because they just don’t have room in their budgets to make up for the shortfall caused by Trump and Elon.”
“Food insecurity in WA has increased annually since 2021, from one in seven households to one in four households. A recent longitudinal study conducted by UW and WSU between 2021-2024 reported that over 50 percent of households have some level of food insecurity, and it raises to over 70 percent for households with children. Food insecurity is on a steady and aggressive incline; it is moving up into the middle class. More working families are food insecure than I’ve seen in the past decade. The emergency food system for Eastern Washington needs more food. Any reduction in food sourcing compounds the growing problem of food insecurity,” said Cal Coblentz, Chief Executive Officer at Partners Inland Northwest in Spokane, the largest food pantry in Spokane County. Partners is the lead agency for Spokane County’s emergency food pantry network and also manages several food programs for Spokane County for the Washington State Department of Agriculture. “These federal funds provide food banks with purchasing power to buy locally produced food for our food bank customers. It’s powerful because we can build relationships with local farms and ranchers. One of the best ways to improve your health is buying food that’s produced close to where you live. This fiscal year, Partners will have used $350,000 of Local Food Purchase Assistance Program funding to buy 60,000 pounds of beef, which we distribute throughout the county. That’s about 120 cows. The LFPA program closes out this June and has been cancelled going forward; that’s at least 30,000 pounds of beef that we won’t be able to purchase and distribute. Additionally, $406,000 in current orders for Spokane County through The Emergency Food Assistance Program have been canceled. Long-term, if TEFAP were reduced or eliminated, we could see at least a 5 percent reduction in food across our panty system.”
“As a farm business, we were really excited by the idea that we had an expanding local market, and in our industry, new markets are far and few between for sure. Costs are rising, costs of production are rising. We heard about this funding cut right as we had already purchased all of our seeds, we’d made our plans for the upcoming season… So, this was a big blow to us, and [LFPA] was actually a program that was working and that we saw growth in since COVID and over the last four years—there’s been a lot of efficient streamlining that’s happened across all agencies to make this program and these relationships viable and productive. And it benefited us financially,” said Haley Olson-Wailand, Co-owner of Dharma Ridge Farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Quilcene, which grows between 80-100 acres of WSDA-certified organic vegetables. Sales to Food Banks utilizing Local Food Purchasing Agreement (LFPA) funds made up just under 20 percent of Dharma Ridge Farm’s gross sales in 2024. “Access to fresh food is the missing link for a lot of people, and they need consistent access to that fresh food, and we were providing that. And it was not only providing that access to our community members who needed the food, but it was also providing a direct new market for us as farmers—and it’s devastating to lose that.”
“As of now, our TEFAP commodities are at risk of being cut by one-third due to TEFAP funding being under review. This funding allows the state to purchase dry, frozen, and fresh commodities for us to distribute in our community. On average we receive 50,000 pounds of TEFAP product each month. If TEFAP is cut, we will lose 16,000 pounds of food for the 48,000 clients our partner organizations feed each month,” said Madeline McGonagle, Food Access Manager, Skagit Food Distribution Center in Sedro-Woolley, which is the lead agency in Skagit, Island, and San Juan counties for Food Assistance Programs through the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA). “For the past couple of years, we have also had funding through the LFPA that has allowed us to purchase fresh food products from local producers and food businesses. Our current LFPA contract that began in July of 2023 and concludes in June of this year totaled $133,071. All of those funds have gone to food purchases from 33 producers and food businesses in our area through Skagit, San Juan, Whatcom, and Snohomish counties. To date, we have purchased 44,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, frozen meat, and eggs to distribute to our 14 partner organizations. In the beginning of the year we were under the impression there would be another round of these funds starting in July of 2025. However, we were recently notified by the WSDA that this program had been terminated by the USDA. While we still have funds to carry our purchasing through June, we will have no purchasing dollars come July. This will directly impact the food pantries who have been consistently receiving fresh products from us for the past two years. With the abundance of local purchasing funding, we had last year we decided to contract with local growers to specifically grow products for us to buy throughout the growing season. This was an opportunity for growers in their first or second seasons to have reliable sales throughout the season. It also ensured we had a reliable supply of products for the food pantries. With the termination of the LFPA contract we will not be able to do that again this year. Skagit has a strong and diverse agricultural community and the LFPA has lifted that community while also lifting members of the community who are experiencing food insecurity. The loss of this program will certainly have profound negative impacts in our community.”
According to Leanne Eko, Chief Nutrition Officer of Child Nutrition Services the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington state received $3.6 million in funding for the LFS program during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, which supported the purchase of domestic, locally grown foods from local producers, small businesses, and farmers and producers for distribution to schools. OSPI leveraged its existing USDA Food Distribution System and LFS funding to support Washington school districts’ engagement in Farm to School programs by facilitating local food procurement, reducing transportation costs, and simplifying ordering logistics.
Through the LFS program:
Nearly 600,000 pounds of local, unprocessed or minimally processed foods were made available to Washington children;
Between LFS funds and school district purchases, over $3,000,000 was spent on local producers and vendors;
Over 850,000 students had access to local foods in their school meal programs;
and 23 unique unprocessed or minimally processed foods were purchased from local producers.
USDA announced the continuation of the LFS program and a new Local Foods for Child Care (LFCC) program in December of 2024. Washington was to receive $8,840,854 in LFS funds and $2,687,472 in LFCC funds. On March 7,2025 OSPI received a Termination Notice for the Local Food for Schools and Local Food for Child Care program project agreement. The termination noticed cited that the agreement “no longer effectuates agency priorities.” While LFS foods will continue to be available for the 2025-26 school year, interested school districts will now have to cover the full cost of products, including shipping and warehousing, due to the Trump administration’s cancellation of federal funding.
Senator Murray’s full remarks, as delivered on today’s press call are below and video is HERE:
“Thank you to all for participating. Right now, some of the richest and most powerful men in the world, are stealing food from our kids.
“Apparently, there is plenty of room in the budget for tax breaks that fork over billions of dollars to people who already have billions of dollars.
“But keeping kids fed—that’s a bridge too far for Trump. Keeping food banks stocked—that is just too expensive. Investing in our farmers, and our families—well that is just not as important as padding Elon’s pockets.
“‘Won’t someone think of the poor billionaires!’ That’s what Trump and Musk seem to be saying at least.
“Because in the last month they have canceled over 1.6 billion dollars for programs that feed hungry kids and help farmers.
“Including nearly 25 million dollars that was heading to Washington state this year alone.
“Last month the Trump administration made the sudden, senseless, and downright cruel decision to cut: $660 million from LFS, that’s the Local Food for Schools Program, which schools and child care facilities rely on to purchase food from nearby farms, they cut $500 million from LFPA, that’s the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, which helps food banks buy nutritious local food for the communities they serve, and $500 million from TEFAP, that’s the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which helps get more food from farms to nearby food banks to people facing hunger.
“And on top of that, Trump’s USDA also canceled this year’s round of Farm to School grants, which helps schools develop and implement local food purchasing programs and school gardens.
“Look—these are federal dollars that I worked very hard to pass in a bipartisan way—so we can fight hunger, and keep our families fed.
“And these programs support American farmers—by buying their products, like cherries, raspberries, blueberries, and other produce Washington state is known for, or nutritious salmon from local fishermen, and meat from local farms.
“And I just want to talk for a minute about this. Because remember what else is happening right now: Trump is telling farmers they need to sell more of their products inside the U.S because of his boneheaded tariffs.
“Which, by the way, shows he doesn’t have a clue—because many of our top producers export up to 90 percent of their products.
“But then, at the very same time, Trump is eliminating farmers’ access to domestic markets by cutting important programs that help them sell locally! Make it make sense. It’s almost as if their plan is to hammer farmers as hard as they can!
“And it is not just farmers getting hit—we’re talking about food banks that serve seniors, parents, and people struggling to make ends meet. Schools who rely on these programs to help feed their students, so all our kids are able to focus on their classes—not on a grumbling stomach.
“In Washington alone, the Local Food for Schools program helped feed 850,000 students!
“Now, school districts are having to make the painful decision to either keep participating in the program, and pay full price for the local food they are supposed to be getting steep discounts on, or not participate at all.
“And we know at least 23 of our school districts in Washington state have already withdrawn from the program next school year because they just don’t have room in their budgets to make up for the shortfall caused by Trump and Elon.
“And the way Trump and Musk are cutting these programs—with maximum chaos—isn’t saving money, it is not, so much as it it’s threatening to waste food that was already ordered and leave families hungry.
“Truck deliveries were cancelled without warning or reason—and without any real plan to keep that food from rotting away. I mean, if you want to talk about waste—that is a real waste, caused by Trump and Musk, and the cost for their incompetence is being paid by the kids who Trump is leaving to go hungry.
“Our President should not be pro-hunger. Two billionaires should not be rewriting national hunger programs to, essentially, say to families “let them eat cake.”
“Instead, we should be making common sense investments in our famers, and in our families, and doing the basic, decent work of making sure kids and families do not go hungry.
“This is government 101, literally bread and butter stuff.
“Well, as Elon and Trump continue to do everything they can to break our government, I am not going to let this funding fall through the cracks.
“Lifting up our voices, speaking up about what is at stake—that still matters. That can still make a difference. And that is why we are here today, to talk about what these programs actually mean for people and for our communities, to put these cuts in the spotlight, and to show just how devastating they are going to be for families in Washington state.
“And I’m really pleased to be joined by some people who really have a deep understanding of this.
“So, now I’ll turn it over to Cal, he’s with Partners Inland Northwest.”
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