The BBC News magazine on Monday examined the debate over proposed food aid reforms in the U.S. “President Barack Obama’s 2013 budget proposed to change the law so that [up to] 45 percent of food for aid could be bought outside the U.S., or the hungry could be given cash [vouchers] instead,” the news agency writes. “But opposition is proving hard to overcome. Instead Congress appears set on voting for a decrease in the aid budget, as foreign aid programs are increasingly unpopular at a time of budget austerity at home,” BBC notes, adding, “If the reform fails, then the U.S. would be the only major donor still delivering aid in this way.” The article quotes an official from CARE, Kenyan and Afghan farmers, a food security expert from Cornell University, and an official from the American Farm Bureau Federation (Loyn, 8/5).