Trump to Provide $12 Billion in Aid to Farmers. Critics Cry 'Welfare!'
The Trump administration is offering $12 billion in emergency aid to American farmers who have been hurt by the president’s escalating trade war with China and other countries.
“This is a short-term solution that will give President Trump and his administration the time to work on long-term trade deals,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Speaking at an event in Kansas City Tuesday, Trump said that “farmers will be the biggest beneficiary” of his efforts to secure more favorable trade deals. On Tuesday morning, the president tweeted:
How it will work: The plan, reportedly in the works for months, has three parts.
It will provide direct financial assistance for producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, pork and dairy.
It will rely on the Department of Agriculture’s authority to stabilize the farm economy by buying excess supply. Fruit, nuts, rice, beef, pork and dairy products bought from farmers will be redistributed to federal nutrition assistance programs, according to Politico.
A “trade promotion program” will work to find new markets for U.S. agricultural products.
The package of programs is authorized under the Depression-era Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act, according to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, and thus does not require approval from Congress. The plan will take effect around Labor Day, with the $12 billion total “calculated to match the estimated $11 billion of economic damage that retaliatory tariffs will inflict on U.S. farmers,” officials told The Washington Post.
The response: Lawmakers, business groups and farmers have opposed the president’s tariffs, and while some in the GOP backed the aid plan, a number of Republican free-trade proponents criticized it harshly and expressed concern that access to markets lost under Trump’s trade war won’t be restored.
“This is becoming more and more like a Soviet-type of economy here: Commissars deciding who’s going to be granted waivers, commissars in the administration figuring out how they’re going to sprinkle around benefits,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-to-provide-dollar12-billion-in-aid-to-farmers-critics-cry-welfare/ar-AAAmNJN?li=BBnb7Kz
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tariffs, but I am also going to have to pay for those who are "hurt" by those tariffs.
