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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBillions flow to farmers ... concerns over unprecedented bailout
Senior government officials, including some in the White House, privately expressed concern that the Trump administrations nearly $30 billion bailout for farmers needed stronger legal backing, according to multiple people who participated in the planning.
The bailout was created by the Trump administration as a way to try to calm outrage from farmers who complained they were caught in the middle of the White Houses trade war with China. In an attempt to pacify farmers, the Department of Agriculture created an expansive new program without precedent.
As part of the program, USDA authorized $12 billion in bailout funds last year and another $16 billion this year, and Trump has said more money could be on the way. The bulk of both bailouts consists of direct checks sent to farmers intended to compensate their losses from the trade war. There is little precedent for an open-ended farmer bailout of this nature.
The bailout funds are part of the White Houses effort to contain an outcry from farmers who have complained that China and other countries have cut back on U.S. purchases in retaliation for the higher tariffs Trump has imposed on a range of imports.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-billions-flow-to-farmers-trump-administration-faces-internal-concerns-over-unprecedented-bailout/2019/09/09/66ec9278-cfe6-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html
PSPS
(13,512 posts)fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)instead of banks.
TheRealNorth
(9,435 posts)Who then turn around and squeeze out the smaller farmers.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)And Medicare, etc.
NickB79
(19,110 posts)If you've got less than 1000 acres, you're out of luck.
bluestarone
(16,720 posts)Could be interesting future for them
keithbvadu2
(36,360 posts)Something you won't hear from a Trump-country farmer:
Rejecting Donald's socialism.
Desert Dem
(78 posts)Congress has the purse.