Cindy Mccain Says World Food Programme Has Half Its 2026 Funding
cindy mccain said the World Food Programme has received only half of the money it needs this year to feed the people it is looking at now. The executive director of the U.N. agency said the shortfall is already limiting its ability to feed at scale, and she pointed to U.S. cuts and a broader global pullback in aid.
“Our ability to feed and feed at scale is not too good, because we right- this year have only received half of the money that we need to be able to feed the amount of people we- we are looking at right now,” McCain said in the interview taped May 29 and aired May 31. She said the agency needs countries, the private sector and corporations to step up.
Face the Nation Interview
The interview aired on May 31, 2026, after being taped two days earlier. McCain said the problem is not limited to one government, saying, “It's both, it's U.S. and the global pullback.” She added that some countries are looking inward and that their constituents are asking for less money for foreign aid and more money for domestic uses.
McCain also said the pressure is arriving as the world is looking at several more famines, after two famines have already occurred, which she called unprecedented. That leaves the agency trying to cover a larger caseload with only half the money it says it needs this year.
Congo Response
McCain tied the funding strain to the World Food Programme’s role in the Ebola emergency response in the Congo, where she said the situation is “not good.” She said the outbreak is “hitting people in a mass way,” and described the agency’s role as bringing in supplies, running logistics and bringing in people.
She said the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme and several other NGOs are part of the response. The Congo was already described in the source as facing about 27 million food insecure people, adding another layer of pressure on a food system that is already under strain.
What McCain Asked
McCain’s message was direct: more money has to come from governments, the private sector and corporations if the agency is going to keep feeding people at the scale she described. “This is very deadly,” she said of the Ebola response, linking the aid shortfall to an emergency that is already unfolding alongside food insecurity.
