Yep ladies and gentleman. Trump plans on another farm bailout, but the price tag is estimated to be anywhere between 35 to 55 billion dollars. It’s all preliminary mind you for several reasons. Unless Trump plans to steal money from other government sources (highly likely IMHO), he will need Congress to rubber stamp the farm bailout. The USDA is low on funds according to Politico, so Trump cannot order the USDA to cover the bill for the bailout. And there is that little problem of the government being SHUTDOWN.
It’s why I think Dictator Don will simply move funds from some other government program to cover the cost of the farm bailout. In other words, Dictator Don will steal money from another part of the government. And who’s going to send Trump to prison for that?
But here are the lovely parts of the present dilemma created wholly by the Orange Ape in the White House:
USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation fund — which President Donald Trump previously tapped to provide $28 billion in farm aid during his first-term trade war with China — has just $4 billion left in the account. Trump officials, including those at the Treasury Department, are looking at how to tap tariff receipts or other funding to supplement the payments without triggering a messy fight in Congress.
OK. So Dictator Don will just use all that money raised by his inane tariffs. Oh! I forgot. Technically, Congress is supposed to have some say in tariff policy, at least according to Politico. But…
The timing of the actual aid rollout is also tricky given that it’s unlikely to happen or even be possible during the ongoing government shutdown that’s shuttered vast swaths of the Agriculture Department.
Ouch! Those Damn Democrats and their nasty government shutdown! They made all this happen and not Trump with his Golden Age of Farming tariffs!
(HINT TO DEMOCRATS: this might be an excellent time to argue if farmers are going to get a bailout, why not Americans with regards to their health insurance? I’d also argue that what farmers really need is for the tariffs to end. Besides, it sounds like Republicans from rural states are the ones in the hot seat now because farmers are screaming for “action” from their Orange Messiah.)
GOP lawmakers could also move to refill the internal USDA fund in their government funding fight later this fall, but that too will be a battle with Democrats.
Hill Republicans have been quietly working on their own proposal to find additional funding for the farm bailouts, according to four other people with direct knowledge of the matter. Some Republicans estimate they will eventually need to provide $35 billion to $50 billion in aid to farmers hit by Trump’s tariffs.
The Rubber Stamp Republicans in Congress want to save big agriculture (you can bet smaller farmers will get little to nothing from a bailout), and it sure sounds like Republicans will need Democrats in the Senate to go along with any farm bailout. See above for my advice on any proposed farm bailout.
But Trump is on social media claiming, “Help is on the way for farmers!” This despite the fact that Trump’s tariffs were only going to be a little “painful,” then a Golden Age of Farming would begin! Farmers just needed to sell their produce to Americans!
It’s a repeat of Trump’s earlier failure on trade in Trump 1.0. In my opinion, Democrats should not just play along and bailout the farmers. Most of the smaller farmers will not get much from a bailout, and they won’t thank Democrats for the help. But it is a bargaining chip they can use with House and Senate Republicans for something else, at least possibly.
However, Trump and the Republicans are not to be trusted, so who knows? I do know this much. Democrats should not rush to help Republicans or farmers. It sounds cold, but farmers and rural voters helped put Trump and the Republicans in charge. Therefore, I think rural voters deserve the consequences of their votes.
