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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
The game of chicken between the White House and congressional Democrats goes on. As promised, President Donald Trump issued executive orders over the weekend aimed at among other things restoring lapsed jobless benefits, suspending payroll taxes and stopping evictions.
Farm groups are appealing to the Agriculture Department to relax payment rules and extend the signup deadline for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, citing the lagging pace of payments to farmers.
Today’s the deadline that senior Trump administration officials had set for getting an agreement with Democrats on a new coronavirus relief package. But there is still no sign that a deal is anywhere close.
USDA budgeted $16 billion for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and hasn’t paid out anywhere close to that amount yet. But USDA says in a statement to Agri-Pulse the department will save any unused funds to help provide farmer assistance during the “remainder of 2020 and into 2021.”
Major farm groups are working to ensure that a new coronavirus relief package provides more specific directions to the Agriculture Department on how to distribute $20 billion in additional relief.
Rep. Roger Marshall withstood an onslaught of Democratic campaign spending to win the Republican nomination Tuesday for the Kansas Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Pat Roberts.
It’s primary day in Kansas, and Democrats are betting big that pouring campaign money into a Republican Senate race can help them steal a Senate seat in November.
Agreement on a new coronavirus relief package could be several weeks away, but a key GOP senator is signaling some give on one major sticking point in the negotiations.
A key senator involved in developing the Republican coronavirus relief package for farmers defended the broad authority it gives to USDA to spend $20 billion in farm aid, but he said the Trump administration likely will need to provide assurances about how the money will be spent.