Some Republicans say that they hope that the White House‘s plans for a new multibillion-dollar bailout for farmers will be generous, given the pain many farmers have suffered from the ongoing trade war.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-AK) told the Washington Examiner that farmers will need “substantial” help to cope with the fallout from tariffs.
“Well, the good news is the administration and Congress recognizes our farmers desperately need help, and so the question is, how much that is going to entail, and who’s going to get it?” Boozman said. “So that’s really what they’re working on now, but in order to make a difference, it’s going to be substantial.”
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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), perhaps the most populist Republican in the Senate and who represents a state with significant farming, told the Washington Examiner that he hadn’t heard anything recently about the bailout from the White House.
“But those are payments I am all in favor of,” he said. “We’ve been asked a lot about bailouts today, but helping American farmers, American citizens, I’m 100%.”
National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett this week also hinted that the Trump administration is planning a payout to farmers, although he didn’t reveal specific details about the plan.
The government has been shut down for over two weeks now, which Hassett said is complicating the situation for the White House. He also hinted that farmers would have to wait until the end of the shutdown to find out what the bailout might entail.
“I expect that when the government opens that very soon after you’re going to see what President Trump’s plan for farmers is, but it’s really quite clever and generous. I can say that,” Hassett said during an event hosted by Axios.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, also said he hasn’t heard specifics from the White House. He also mentioned the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation fund, which Trump used to provide farmers with billions of dollars of assistance during his first term, but now only has $4 billion.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Grassley said. “What I have read, it’s in the area of $10 to $14 billion, but they don’t have enough money now in the CCC, maybe only $4 billion, so they’re going to have to do it in two tranches.”
But Trump has mentioned using tariff revenue to assist farmers, a prospect the administration is still discussing, the Wall Street Journal reported. A senior administration official also said the $10 to $14 billion figure is being discussed.
Boozman also said he is unaware of how much farmers might get from the government, but said the outlook is not so bright right now.
“I can’t tell you exactly how much, but we have a situation; unless you’re raising livestock, if you’re growing something out of the ground, you’re losing money,” Boozman said. “Farmers need the certainty going forward as they speak to their bankers, their lenders, about next year, which, to be honest, right now doesn’t look a whole lot better than this year.”
The government shutdown is making the situation increasingly more precarious for farmers, given that some in the industry said it could take months for that bailout money to get into the pockets of farmers.
But while many people agree that U.S. farmers are in a difficult place, some are also pointing out that aggressive tariff and trade policies are behind much of that pain.
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For instance, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) pointed out the challenges the Trump administration’s aggressive tariff policies present to farmers.
“Obviously, the trade wars, the tariffs, are having a pretty negative impact on agriculture around the country, including Wisconsin,” Johnson told the Washington Examiner. “Bailing them out is an imperfect solution, let’s put it that way. I think most farmers, they always say they’d rather have trade than aid.”
