Thread by @TheCounter

#THREAD: The USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Boxes have cost taxpayers a lot more than what they’re worth, according to public records detailing contractor payments reviewed by The Counter. bit.ly/32VNurW

The agency has paid up to $150 for the boxes, many of which have arrived containing inedible produce and unlabeled meat.

On one occasion, a distributor in Puerto Rico left 600 families waiting for food boxes that never came. Another time, a distributor in Texas stopped delivering boxes to a food bank after receiving criticism from it.

In Puerto Rico, the island’s largest food distributor is charging USDA $100 per box for grocery packages that local anti-hunger groups say are worth far less: “For $100 a box, [it] could make three boxes.”

Other food bank operators say they could distribute the same food at a fraction of the cost, even after accounting for labor and transportation costs. bit.ly/32VNurW

In fact, pre-pandemic, USDA already had systems in place to purchase large amounts of food to distribute to food banks. Through these programs, it could easily fill a 25-lb box for less than $15. Instead the agency is paying contractors an average of $23.50 per package.

Despite high costs, the food box program hasn’t delivered on many of its promises: Food bank operators say they’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars delivering the boxes—expenses that were supposed to be covered by USDA contractors.

Still, the Trump administration recently committed another $1 billion to the program. Critics of the food boxes believe that they’ve become less about feeding hungry people and more about bolstering support for the president’s re-election campaign.

At a food box event last week, the Secretary of Agriculture called for Trump’s re-election. USDA also recently started including letters signed by the president in boxes. Both incidents are potential violations of the Hatch Act.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their official authority to influence elections.

Taken together, these flags raise the question of whether food boxes are the most effective way to feed hungry families during a pandemic—or if they’re just another tool used to shore up support among farmers and agribusinesses.

“What’s the point of the box?” one food bank operator asked. “Unless one of these people is related to somebody who makes cardboard… They’re just doing it so they can get the farmer vote.” Read more about the struggling program here: bit.ly/32VNurW