HYDE-SMITH GOES TO BAT FOR MSU FISH INNOVATION LAB, OMB DIRECTOR SAYS FUNDING ‘PROTECTED’
Appropriations Committee Conducts Hearing to Review White House Funding Rescissions Package
VIDEO: Senator Hyde-Smith Defends MSU Fish Innovation Lab as Good Use of Taxpayer Funding.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today won assurances that funding to continue the work of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish at Mississippi State University would be protected as the White House scrutinizes the federal budget for cuts.
Hyde-Smith discussed the MSU program with Russell T. Vought, Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to review President Trump’s request to rescind $9.4 billion in previously-appropriated funding.
“I just want to commend this administration’s work to rein in federal spending, and I support the goal of putting the nation’s fiscal house back in order. So, thank you for what you’re doing. While mandatory spending is the biggest contributor to annual budget deficits and the overall national debt, discretionary spending is not exempt from scrutiny,” Hyde-Smith told Vought.
The MSU Fish Innovation Lab has been affected by freezes imposed on funding associated with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), including large portions its Development Assistance account from which the MSU Fish Innovation Lab received $3 million annually.
“I want to bring to your attention an example of how Development Assistance funds are being put to good use,” Hyde-Smith said. “The lab’s work illustrates the proverb, ‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.’ This is exactly what the MSU Fish Innovation Lab is doing. Rather than giving other countries food, we are teaching them how to feed themselves through modern aquaculture practices.”
Hyde-Smith asked Vought whether the Fish Innovation Lab’s work to promote global food security, improve livelihoods, and strengthen the resiliency of aquatic food production in developing nations qualifies as an appropriate priority under the goals of the White House spending cuts package.
Vought testified that there is still foreign assistance funding available to fund priority programs like the MSU program.
“We will still have $5 billion nearly in this funding for priorities and programs like this, which will be protected. So, we have no desire in this rescissions package to touch that funding that seems as to be so successful,” Vought said.
“I would love to invite you and your staff down, to make a trip to the lab to learn more about that great work that they are doing,” Hyde-Smith responded. “I appreciate you working with me on this particular subject because it is money well spent and a great program.”
Hyde-Smith supported the early grant application submitted by MSU, which began receiving USAID grants for the Fish Innovation Lab in 2018. The lab has operated under the umbrella of the state-funded MSU Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security.
During the hearing, Vought defended the overall rescissions package that primarily takes aim at foreign aid programs, with more than $8.3 billion targeted while retaining funds for “life-saving” programs.
“The proposal would also rescind $8.3 billion in funding for the State Department, USAID, and other foreign aid that has been used to advance left-wing causes abroad to the detriment of recipient nations and our own. It is critical that this body—and the American people writ large—understand that many foreign aid programs use benevolent-sounding titles to hide truly appalling activity that is not in line with American interests,” Vought testified.
President Trump submitted his rescissions request to Congress on June 3 under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which triggered a 45-day period for both the House and Senate to agree to cancel the funds. The House of Representatives voted 214-212 on June 12 to approve the package.
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