USDA program delays food deliveries for Native American tribes

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Food delivery trucks stopped coming on time to the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota this summer.

“Towards the end of July, that’s when we started running out of a supply of food,” Mary Greene-Trottier said.

Mary Greene-Trottier is Director of the Tribe’s Food Distribution Program and National President for Food Distribution Programs on Indian Reservations.

The USDA program serves more than 50,000 living on reservations across the country.  It’s a lifeline for rural areas often far from grocery stores, Greene-Trottier said.

“They’re counting on us to make sure services are provided,” Greene-Trottier said. “We are considered what is a food desert.”

But participating reservations haven’t been getting deliveries on time — or at all — for months now. Delayed deliveries started after the USDA switched from two distributors to one earlier this year.

Greene-Trottier says tribes expressed concerns to the agency before the change.

“We felt this was a situation where they didn’t listen to us,” Greene-Trottier said.

“USDA should’ve listened to them. That’s why we have stepped in now,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said.

Sen. Hoeven and other lawmakers sent letters to the Secretary of Agriculture demanding action.

Since then, the USDA has increased access to food assistance programs and financial aid to tribes. The agency also signed a temporary contract with a second distributor to surge deliveries.

“The combination of those two things, which we’ve pressed USDA to do, will get on this, we hope, over the next weeks,” Hoeven said.

The USDA said in a statement it’s “deeply apologetic for disruptions” and “working around the clock” to fix the problem. The agency blamed supply chain disruptions at its contractor’s warehouses. The contractor says it’s “actively addressing recent challenges.”

The short-term fixes seem to be working for the Spirit Lake Tribe, according to Greene-Trottier.

“We had a truck show up this morning,” she said.

But there are long-term fixes Sen. Hoeven wants to implement. He’s working on a bipartisan bill with Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith.

“That actually will give the tribes more control over the food distribution. I think this will prevent something like this from happening in the future,” Hoeven said.

Lawmakers will press agriculture officials about the issue at a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning. Greene-Trottier will be there to testify.

“It’s time for them to listen,” Greene-Trottier said.

The USDA says it’s meeting weekly with tribal leaders to provide updates.

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