The State Department has put out a request for more than 11,000 metric tons of foreign nutrition aid. The request comes after the Trump administration halted aid under DOGE cuts earlier in the year.

Washington

The U.S. State Department has issued a request for proposals to supply over 11,000 metric tons of foreign nutrition aid, marking a significant resumption of assistance that had been halted earlier in the year due to budget cuts. This aid is intended for countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, South Sudan, Chad, Madagascar, Niger, Sudan, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Haiti.

The announcement has brought relief to U.S.-based manufacturers of food aid, who had faced the prospect of shutting down operations and laying off workers. The renewed aid is expected to save the lives of more than 800,000 children and support American farmers and suppliers. The State Department has not yet provided details on when manufacturers will be selected or when shipments will begin, but the request for proposals is due soon.

State Department puts out request for foreign nutrition aid

Now to a CBS News exclusive. We're learning that the State Department put out a request for more than 11,000 metric tons of foreign nutrition aid. This after the administration halted aid under doge cuts earlier this year. So CBS News correspondent Lana Zak is live in South County, Rhode Island. And Lana, you were with the head of one of the manufacturers of foreign food aid when she got this news. So tell us what that was like. It was absolutely incredible, Juliette. We had no idea that this was going to happen today. And there's only two manufacturers of this food aid in the United States. And I happened to be with one of them at the moment that she learned how many kids would be saved. Take a listen. You've waited for this how long? Since January 20th. And you just kept this factory going with the belief that you would again be able to save lives. And literally as we're here. As we're here. It's gonna go to Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, South Sudan, Chad, Madagascar, Niger, Sudan, Djibouti, DRC, and Haiti. And you could hear her start to get emotional there. She got even more emotional when she announced this to her staff. And here's the reason why. This U.S. based manufacturer who buys all of her food products, even the packaging from U.S. suppliers was just weeks away from potentially having to shut down her entire factory. So they not only are going to be saving lives, but she's saving jobs getting this news today. Yeah, absolutely. You could see the emotion and even in her voice as you just said. So can you just talk about what that foreign aid is and what the impact will be when the aid is restarted? Absolutely. And this is just the beginning. She and others in the hunger community are hoping that this will restore additional funding. And in addition to the 800,000 plus children who will likely not starve to death as a result of this request for proposals, there's 14 million children around the world who were endangered when these USAID programs were shut down. They believe that this might be the beginning of these programs all starting back up now under the State Department. And that means that millions of children will potentially have their lives saved as a result of this. In addition, there are other ramifications for the U.S. economy. I mentioned those workers, those manufacturers who are in that plant, about 150 who work here in Rhode Island. There's also major repercussions for American farmers because they sell these materials to organizations like Adesia. Then they go off to feed these children abroad. But with these cuts, they were looking at potentially problems of bankruptcy in some of these farms if the U.S. government was no longer purchasing these goods. So there's multiple ramifications, all of them in this moment, good ones. Julia. I can't help but think when she got that email or that memo that she had to do a double take and just make sure that that in fact was the correct information because that was a huge announcement today that you were present for. Absolutely. And we have reached out to the U.S. Department of State to try and get additional information about exactly when they're going to be selecting these manufacturers and when they're going to start sending out these materials. And hopefully we'll continue to provide good updates about what is happening in this space very soon. But this request for a proposal is due on August 8th. That's just around the quarter. And she says every single day matters. Yeah, it does. All right, Lana Zak, thank you so much.

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