More corruption from the Trump Swamp...
GAO launches investigation into Trump aid for farmers
The Agriculture Department (USDA) pledged $12 billion in aid in 2018 and an additional $14.5 billion in 2019.
One study found that between disaster aid, trade aid, insurance indemnities and the trade assistance, almost 40 percent of farm income was coming from some sort of aid.
Stabenow raised concerns that the aid distribution was being decided by political considerations, with larger payouts going to Trump-voting red states in the South. She also had questions over whether USDA's methods for dispersing aid were preventing waste, fraud and abuse.
USDA has also taken heat for trade-related aid payments to the subsidiary of a Brazilian corporation under criminal investigation.
Add to that....the bulk of the aid is going to large corporate farms:
Bulk of Trump's U.S. farm aid goes to biggest and wealthiest farmers: advocacy group
More than half of the Trump administration’s $8.4 billion in trade aid payments to U.S. farmers through April was received by the top 10% of recipients, the country’s biggest and most successful farmers, a study by an advocacy group showed on Tuesday.
Highlighting an uneven distribution of the bailout, which was designed to help offset effects of the U.S.-China trade war, the Environmental Working Group said the top 1% of aid recipients received an average of more than $180,000 while the bottom 80% were paid less than $5,000 in aid.
Trump Hails New Farm Aid Billions As Report Reveals Money Helps Wealthy, Southerners | HuffPost
Figures show that 95% of top payment rates are going to farmers in the South, even though they have been less affected by the trade war with China, and that significant payments have been made to wealthy farmers and foreign corporations, the report noted.
Five Southern states receive the highest payments per acre under the program — Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas. All voted for Trump, all but Georgia voted overwhelmingly for him. The analysis determined that farmers in the Midwest and Northern Plains have been hurt the most by the trade war.
The report accused the Agriculture Department of doing nothing to direct aid to struggling small and medium farms, and farmers just starting out. Instead, the agency doubled payment limits, directing even more money to large, wealthy farming partnerships. The report also lashed the aid program for making commodity purchases from foreign-owned agricultural conglomerates, including $90 million paid to a subsidiary of Brazilian-owned JBS SA.
GAO launches investigation into Trump aid for farmers
The Agriculture Department (USDA) pledged $12 billion in aid in 2018 and an additional $14.5 billion in 2019.
One study found that between disaster aid, trade aid, insurance indemnities and the trade assistance, almost 40 percent of farm income was coming from some sort of aid.
Stabenow raised concerns that the aid distribution was being decided by political considerations, with larger payouts going to Trump-voting red states in the South. She also had questions over whether USDA's methods for dispersing aid were preventing waste, fraud and abuse.
USDA has also taken heat for trade-related aid payments to the subsidiary of a Brazilian corporation under criminal investigation.
Add to that....the bulk of the aid is going to large corporate farms:
Bulk of Trump's U.S. farm aid goes to biggest and wealthiest farmers: advocacy group
More than half of the Trump administration’s $8.4 billion in trade aid payments to U.S. farmers through April was received by the top 10% of recipients, the country’s biggest and most successful farmers, a study by an advocacy group showed on Tuesday.
Highlighting an uneven distribution of the bailout, which was designed to help offset effects of the U.S.-China trade war, the Environmental Working Group said the top 1% of aid recipients received an average of more than $180,000 while the bottom 80% were paid less than $5,000 in aid.
Trump Hails New Farm Aid Billions As Report Reveals Money Helps Wealthy, Southerners | HuffPost
Figures show that 95% of top payment rates are going to farmers in the South, even though they have been less affected by the trade war with China, and that significant payments have been made to wealthy farmers and foreign corporations, the report noted.
Five Southern states receive the highest payments per acre under the program — Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas. All voted for Trump, all but Georgia voted overwhelmingly for him. The analysis determined that farmers in the Midwest and Northern Plains have been hurt the most by the trade war.
The report accused the Agriculture Department of doing nothing to direct aid to struggling small and medium farms, and farmers just starting out. Instead, the agency doubled payment limits, directing even more money to large, wealthy farming partnerships. The report also lashed the aid program for making commodity purchases from foreign-owned agricultural conglomerates, including $90 million paid to a subsidiary of Brazilian-owned JBS SA.
