Less than $900 million of a $12 billion bailout program has actually been given to U.S. producers.
The Trump administration has distributed only a fraction of the money it promised farmers hurt by the president’s ongoing trade war, The New York Times reported Monday.
According to officials from the Department of Agriculture (USDA), just $838 million of a promised $12 billion bailout program for farmers affected by tit-for-tat tariffs has been paid out since September, when the administration made half the funds available. The remaining $6 billion is expected to be made available in December.
The Times writes that the program has been plagued by “bureaucracy as well as practical challenges” since its inception. Farmers are often told they must wait until they complete their harvests before applying for bailout funding, a process that’s been slowed by poor weather conditions, and even then, receive far less than they might get during normal years.
View the complete November 19 article by Melanie Schmitz on the ThinkProgress.org website here.