Sponsors (4)
The bill creates a mission‑focused, partially private foundation that can mobilize U.S. funds, private capital, and technical expertise to boost agricultural productivity and food security abroad while strengthening evaluation and governance — but it increases taxpayer exposure, risks excluding smaller local actors, may shift priorities toward U.S. strategic interests, and raises oversight and administrative challenges.
Farmers and food‑insecure populations in target countries will receive increased financing, technical assistance, and programs tied to measurable outcomes that aim to raise yields, incomes, and food security.
Nonprofits, governments, and private partners gain predictable annual U.S. funding and a new vehicle able to provide grants, loans, equity, and project financing while leveraging private capital and interest on held federal funds to stretch U.S. resources.
Taxpayers and program stakeholders benefit from strengthened accountability: required measurable KPIs, third‑party evaluations, independent accountability mechanisms, audits, and annual reporting improve transparency and evidence on what works.
Taxpayers face increased fiscal exposure and higher federal spending and administrative costs because sizable Federal funds will be channeled to a tax‑exempt private foundation, with potential losses or extra program administration paid from appropriations.
Small, newer, or resource‑constrained local organizations and the poorest communities risk exclusion because cost‑sharing, emphasis on 'proven' partners, non‑USG matching requirements, and strict evaluation capacity criteria favor larger or established actors.
Creating a tax‑exempt foundation and failing to name specific congressional committees for notifications may reduce direct congressional oversight and transparency over how U.S. funds are used, complicating accountability.
Based on analysis of 18 sections of legislative text.
Creates a private U.S. Foundation for International Food Security, authorizes an annual State Department grant, and empowers the Foundation to finance and evaluate agricultural investments abroad with strong accountability and national‑security guardrails.
Official title: Establish the United States Foundation for International Food Security to leverage private sector investments in order to improve and scale economically viable agricultural production, build food systems to mitigate food shock, reduce malnutrition, and drive economic growth, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 22, 2025 by Lindsey O. Graham · Last progress May 22, 2025
Creates a private, nonprofit United States Foundation for International Food Security and authorizes the Secretary of State to award an annual grant (with required non‑federal cost‑share to the maximum extent practicable) to support the Foundation’s work financing, scaling, and evaluating agricultural investments abroad that increase productivity, incomes, and resilience in food‑insecure areas. The bill sets up the Foundation’s purposes, corporate powers, governance rules, eligibility and accountability standards for ventures and financing, prohibitions against working with designated terrorist‑supporting or gross human‑rights‑violating foreign governments or sanctioned parties, and annual reporting and audit requirements.