Democrats in the U.S. Senate will ask the Department of Agriculture to reverse the cancellation of programs that have funneled more than $2 billion for local food purchases to schools and food banks,

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is cutting two federal programs that provided about $1 billion in funding to schools and food banks to buy food directly from local farms, ranchers and producers, part of what the agency said was a decision to "return to long-term,