Vice Ranking Member Amo Demands Secretary Rubio Prevent Starving Children from Dying and Protect Rhode Island Jobs

Secretary Marco Rubio confirms Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food produced by Rhode Island’s Edesia Nutrition is lifesaving aid and Vice Ranking Member Amo presses Secretary to do everything to keep starving children from dying.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Foreign Affairs Vice Ranking Member Gabe Amo (D-RI), demanded Secretary of State Marco Rubio commit to fund the production, transportation, and distribution of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) aid to keep starving children from dying. Until recently, over 123,000 boxes of RUTF purchased for Sudan were sitting in Rhode Island’s Edesia Nutrition warehouse because of State Department inflicted delays. Another 185,000 boxes of RUTFs purchased by the U.S. Government still sit in Edesia warehouses undistributed.

“Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Food aid produced in Rhode Island has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Secretary Rubio promised over and over that he would not stop the distribution of lifesaving foreign aid, but today the truth came out,” said Vice Ranking Member Gabe Amo (D-RI). “Right now in Rhode Island, 185,000 boxes of therapeutic food bought and paid for by American taxpayers are sitting in a warehouse. All that’s standing between those boxes and the starving kids who need them is Secretary Rubio’s State Department. This is unacceptable, and I will call on Secretary Rubio every week until he keeps his word and distributes this live saving food aid.”