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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Friday, April 04, 2025
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is preparing to confirm later this morning that he will be using $2.3 billion in funding from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation to help farm groups promote their goods in foreign markets as well as donate more U.S.-grown commodities to those in need overseas, according to government officials.
John Hoeven, the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, defends removing restrictions on USDA's use of the Commodity Credit Corporation for assisting farmers.
Republicans continue trying to close ranks around a new House speaker, even after Steve Scalise won the party’s nomination for the position at a private conference meeting Wednesday.
The Department of Agriculture has agreed to use Commodity Credit Corporation funds to spend about $1.4 billion on a program to help farm groups market their commodities overseas and about $1.1 billion to pay for commodity-based international food aid, according to sources.
Fresh off the heels of a nearly $266 million renewable energy announcement from USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is urging a hands-off approach by those outside the department looking to tweak the agency’s funding pools.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday announced $2.7 billion in total funding from USDA's Commodity Credit Corp. account to build domestic fertilizer capacity, support school meal providers and fund emergency commodity purchases by states.
The top Democrat on the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee is defending Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack's usage of the Commodity Credit Corp. account and says Congress should "absolutely not" impose new restrictions.
Many farm groups are calling on Congress to mandate more funding for agricultural research, arguing that the U.S. is falling behind China and other countries. But a top House appropriator says that funding for research decisions should continue to be left to the discretion of the lawmakers who write the annual spending bills for USDA.
A key House Republican wants to reinstate a restriction on USDA’s use of its Commodity Credit Corp. Rep. Andy Harris, who chairs the House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee, claims Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack misused the CCC to fund the $3 billion Partnerships in Climate-Smart Commodities initiative.
