A bipartisan group of US senators urges USDA Secretary to address food distribution backlog and improve services for Native American tribes.

A bipartisan group of US senators, including Jeff Merkley, John Hoeven, Kevin Cramer, Markwayne Mullin, Martin Heinrich, Ron Wyden, and Tina Smith, has written to USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack urging action to fix the backlog in food distribution to Native American tribes. They have expressed concern over "unacceptable" services provided by a federal food distribution program that has failed to fulfill some orders and delivered expired goods at other times. The senators claim that Native American families have faced "extreme disruptions" since the USDA reduced its contractors from two to one last spring.

August 23, 2024
32 Articles