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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Saturday, April 05, 2025
Farmers who were facing a steep drop in government payments in 2021 will instead see a third round of coronavirus relief payments and other producers and ag processors left out of previous aid programs this year will get help this time, under a massive stimulus package and government funding bill.
Congressional leaders reach agreement with the White House on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that will include a new round of aid to various agriculture sectors while also ensuring the deductibility of expenses used to get forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Congress faces a midnight deadline to keep the government funded. As of Thursday evening, it wasn’t clear whether lawmakers would be asked to pass a very short-term stopgap spending bill to provide the time they need to pass a massive bill that would include both government funding for fiscal 2021 as well as a big new COVID aid package.
Lawmakers have given themselves one more week to reach a deal on a new coronavirus relief package that congressional leaders want to wrap into a government-wide funding bill for fiscal 2021.
Many farmers will see their incomes rise this year amid the historically massive outpouring of government aid producers have received as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA says.
Senate Republicans are circulating a trimmed-down coronavirus aid package that leaves out additional aid for farmers as well as the $1,200-per-person stimulus checks included in their earlier, $1 trillion HEALS Act.
Senate Republicans unveiled a coronavirus relief package Monday that would give the Agriculture Department broad authority to spend an additional $20 billion to compensate agricultural producers and processors for the impact of the pandemic.
The House will vote on a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that likely has no future in the GOP-controlled Senate but does provide a blueprint for what Democrats may try to do if they win control of the Senate in November.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a bill giving farms and businesses more flexibility in how and when they can spend their Paycheck Protection Program loans and still get them forgiven.
