USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong told lawmakers Tuesday her office is reviewing USDA’s authority to provide more than $20 billion in direct payments to producers without an appropriation from Congress via the Market Facilitation Program (MFP).
She also said they will look at questions on whether the aid is unfairly tilted to certain states and commodity groups. “We are going to start out with the basic issue of authority for the programs, and then we are going to get into the design and implementation, eligibility and look at the producer questions,” Fong said at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “The first piece of our work should be coming out in the next several months.”
Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has complained repeatedly the aid is tilted to southern states based on the per-acre payments via the 2019 MFP effort (MFP 2) while USDA continues to point to the totals received by states in the Midwest, with Iowa, Illinois, Texas, Minnesota and Kansas receiving the most.
As of February 10, USDA said that $14.23 billion has been paid out under MFP 2.
Welcome
