USDA part of relief bill has loan payoffs for farmers of color; Republicans complain that Democrats shut their ideas out

"Democrats forced a $16.1 billion agriculture stimulus plan through the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday, brushing aside Republican assertions that a provision providing debt relief for minority farmers was far too broad and could face legal challenges," Agri-Pulse reports.

The committee approved the measure, which will be part of Democrats' overall relief-and-stimulus bill, on a party-line vote. "Democrats defeated almost every GOP attempt to alter the measure," Philip Brasher reports, "including two amendments that would have scaled back provisions that will pay off USDA farm loans held by minority producers."

Republicans complained that new committee Chair David Scott didn't let them help write the bill, "and said it omitted assistance for key rural needs such as broadband expansion," Brasher reports. They were most critical of debt relief, a "result of discussions that started with the Biden transition team."

Under the plan, a farmer who meets the 1990 Farm Bill's definition of "socially disadvantaged" could be paid 120% of the amount owed on a USDA loan (the extra to cover taxes on the money) without having to prove discrimination. "Democratic members of the committee initially struggled to explain whether white women would qualify for the payments," Brasher reports. "but a committee staffer said it would be limited to Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans."

Scott, the first Black Democrat on the committee, said “There has been no one who has been discriminated in the whole agriculture industry like African Americans, who deserve some compassion and understanding. . . . African Americans were the pioneers in agriculture … We had to do it for no compensation as slaves in this country, and ever since then we’ve been trying to bring justice to that.”

Among the failed amendments was one from ranking Republican Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson of Pennsylvania, to redirect money to "rural broadband, distance learning, rural hospitals and other needs," Brasher reports. "Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., inadvertently highlighted deficiencies in rural broadband while trying to defend Thompson’s amendment. 'The digital divide is something that is very, very real in my district,' she said. Moments later she lost her connection to the hearing."

A Scott press release said the bill includes $500 million "to help rural hospitals and local communities broaden access to Covid-19 vaccines and food assistance" and $3.6 billion for USDA "to help the food and ag sector supply chains."