Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack discusses the food shortage crisis in Indian Country on September 11, 2024.

Vilsack, the leader of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), spoke at a joint oversight hearing titled “Severe Food Distribution Shortages in Tribal and Elderly Communities.” He accepted responsibility for problems with the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) that have resulted in the most vulnerable in Indian Country going without food for months.

“Since April 2024, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program have failed to perform in a manner befitting the tribes, tribal members, CSFP agencies and seniors,” Vilsack said in his two-minute statement.

“For that, we at USDA are deeply sorry for the stress, disruption and difficulty this failure has caused,” Vilsack said at the hearing in Washington, D.C.

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