Rep. Kweisi Mfume: Trump, Musk 'don't give a damn about feeding children'

Carson Swick, The Baltimore Sun on Mar 14, 2025

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BALTIMORE — Baltimore-area leaders are fed up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cut of two programs that provide more than $1 billion for schools and food banks across the country to buy food from locally sourced farmers and ranchers.

Rep. Kweisi Mfume, a Democrat who represents most of Baltimore City, blamed President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk for the cuts and suggested they do not care about addressing food insecurity.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk don’t give a damn about feeding children and supporting local farmers,” Mfume said in a phone interview Thursday. “By instituting these cuts, they are saying that food assistance in our country is no longer a priority.”

But the Trump administration — which is on a mission to slash waste, fraud and abuse — has described the programs as examples of unnecessary government spending.

The USDA notified state officials last Friday that it was suspending fiscal year 2025 aid for the Local Food for Schools (LFS) and Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) programs. More than 40 states signed agreements to participate in these programs in previous years, according to the School Nutrition Association.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture was expected to receive $4,850,663 from LFPA in fiscal 2025 to distribute to various food banks in the state, according to agency spokeswoman Jessica Hackett.

The cuts come months after the USDA under former President Joe Biden announced more than $1 billion in new funding for the two programs via the Commodity Credit Corporation, a USDA fund used to buy agricultural commodities.

In a statement, a USDA spokesperson confirmed funding announced by the Biden administration last October “will be terminated following 60-day notification.”

“These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that LFPA does not plan to pursue a second round of funding for fiscal 2025.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins echoed this rhetoric during a Fox News interview Tuesday, characterizing the Biden-era programs as unnecessary government spending by Democrats.

“As we have always said, if we are making mistakes, we will own those mistakes and we will reconfigure,” Rollins said. “But right now, from what we are viewing, that program was nonessential, that it was a new program, and that it was an effort by the left to continue spending taxpayer dollars that were not necessary.”

Baltimore City Councilwoman Phylicia Porter, a Democrat who chairs the council’s Public Health & Environment Committee, has introduced legislation to promote preventative child healthcare in Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS). Porter said she was “sad” about the cuts and suggested improved partnerships between BCPS and nonprofits/other private organizations could alleviate food insecurity issues.

“As a public health practitioner, fresh food is something that we need in the schools. And so any cut or reduction to that would be adverse to my vision and mission,” Porter told The Sun Wednesday.

Mfume told The Sun he has spoken with Porter and leaders of the Maryland Food Bank regarding the USDA cuts and is planning to meet with BCPS soon. The discussions centered around protecting food assistance in Maryland and around the nation, according to Mfume.

Rep. Johnny Olszewski, a Democrat who represents Baltimore and Carroll counties, drew on his background as a former social studies teacher in opposing the cuts. Olszewski characterized USDA’s moves as a giveaway to so-called “Big Ag” at the expense of local farmers.

“I understand the value in ensuring every child has access to fresh and healthy food from my time as an educator — just as I know that investing in Maryland farmers instead of Big Ag makes good economic sense,” Olszewski said in an emailed statement. “I urge the Trump Administration to reconsider this shortsighted and heartless cut.”

Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland’s only Republican congressman and chair of the House Freedom Caucus, did not respond to a request for comment.

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