Washington Week Ahead: Farmers await payment plan; USMCA review gets focus

…A group of non-profit organizations wrote to Rollins and USDA Undesecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg last week, arguing that any aid should be subject to strict payment limits and oversight.

The groups, which included the R Street Institute, Farm Action and Taxpayers for Common Sense, pointed to a 2022 review of the 2018-2019 Market Facilitation Program by the Government Accountability Office, which found $800 million went to ineligible recipients or were not the correct amounts. A separate review also found underlying issues in the way USDA calculated the tariff impacts.

“USDA should take prudent measures to direct aid to where it is needed most and avoid unnecessary spending or waste that could further exacerbate our fiscal outlook,” the groups argue.