Many of the Agriculture Department's recent actions have been marred by missing pieces of critical data as they seek to cut programs without determining how many people would get hurt
last May, the Labor Department defended the plan to shut down the Forest Service job centers by claiming they “suffer from a variety of problems, including operating under-capacity, not achieving long-term student outcomes, and operating in an inefficient manner.” However, no data was provided by either department to support that statement.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service maintains that worker safety is under the Labor Department’s jurisdiction, so it wasn’t a factor in shaping the final rule., FSIS wrote that any evaluation of changing the processing line speeds “should include the effects of line speed on establishment employee safety.
But doubts about the soundness of USDA’s data have already created obstacles for the pork slaughter rule. Smaller corners of agriculture, like Maine’s wild blueberry growers, say USDA completely failed to address their financial losses from the tariff brawl. They’re facing a 97 percent drop in exports to China since 2017, but were left out of the direct payment program altogether.found that USDA’s calculation of trade damages “likely substantially overestimated the impact for some U.S. producers,” such as soybean growers.
Critics see a degree of political favoritism behind the design of the program, given the influx of funds to key states that Trump hopes could catapult him to a second term in the White House. Even after delivering several long-sought trade wins in recent months, Trump tweeted in January that he hopes “the thing [farmers] will most remember” is the bailout money.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici said the monthslong delay “makes it appear USDA was trying to thwart oversight.” Deputy Undersecretary Brandon Lipps contended that the analysis was provided “as soon as it was available and ready.” A USDA spokesperson reiterated that point in a statement, adding that “every family continues to have an opportunity to apply for meal benefits.”
Democrats are seeking more detailed information about veterans, homeless and other food stamp recipients who could lose their benefits under the new USDA rules. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images “The fact is that [the recipients] are a complicated group of people on which we have little data … yet USDA has done no research on how this new rule will impact these vulnerable Americans,” McGovern said after the final rule was published in December. “The Trump administration ought to know more about this population before they literally take food off their table.”
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