Food for Peace Title II Food Aid

(Food for Peace)

Department of State & International Programs

Proposed Cut

$1.2B

% Reduction

100.0%

Action Type

elimination

Who Is Served

Millions in famine-affected countries; U.S. commodity shippers and producers

Summary

Food for Peace Title II is the U.S. government's oldest emergency food aid program, buying wheat, rice, beans, and other American-grown commodities and shipping them overseas to feed people caught in famines, wars, and natural disasters. The FY2027 budget eliminates the program entirely, cutting its full $1200 million (a 100% cut), and shrinking its remaining funding to a small amount used only to close out existing contracts.

Who Is Affected

In past years the program has reached roughly 40 million hungry people annually in more than 40 countries with in-kind U.S. food shipments, according to USAID's own food assistance reporting; by early 2026 it had already been scaled back to about $452 million in aid reaching just seven countries. American wheat, corn, rice, and bean farmers and the U.S.-flagged shipping companies that transport the commodities overseas also lose a guaranteed buyer and cargo, which is why lawmakers from farm states have repeatedly pushed back on cutting the program.

What this cut would actually mean

Ending Title II removes one of the only U.S. programs built specifically to ship large volumes of American food directly into famine and disaster zones, on top of a version of the program that critics say already skips the hungriest places: Council on Foreign Relations reporting found the recently downsized program bypasses Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan even as the World Food Programme says funding shortfalls let it reach only about "one in ten people in need of food aid in Somalia." Full elimination means fewer emergency food shipments reaching people facing famine, less market support for U.S. farm commodities earmarked for aid, and a shrinking of one of the government's most recognizable famine-response tools down to a skeleton budget meant only to wind the program down.

Sources

United States Department of Agriculture FY 2027 Budget Summary — USDA's own FY2027 budget document confirming the elimination of the Food for Peace Title II program and its administrative shift toward the State Department.
FY2027 Department of State Congressional Budget Justification — State Department budget justification describing the elimination of Food for Peace Title II as part of the FY2027 foreign operations request.
Budget of the U.S. Government FY2027 (OMB) — Official White House budget document stating the $1.2 billion Food for Peace cut and the administration's rationale about shipping delays and cost.
Trump FY2027 Budget Proposes Record Homeland Security Boost, $1.5T Defense Spending Surge — News summary confirming the $1.2 billion elimination of Food for Peace Title II and citing the administration's cited 147-day average delivery time.
USDA Budget Proposal Signals Shift Away From Food Aid, Rural Development — Reporting detailing how the FY2027 budget drops Food for Peace funding from $1.2 billion to $97 million for program close-out, and the related McGovern-Dole cuts.
The Revamped Food for Peace Program Bypasses Countries Closest to Famine — Council on Foreign Relations analysis showing the already-downsized program excludes Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and citing WFP's reduced reach in Somalia.
U.S. International Food Assistance Report Fiscal Year 2017 — Federal report showing Title II historically provided food aid to about 40 million beneficiaries in over 40 countries annually.