Multibillion-dollar debt relief for minority farmers is backed by House committee – February 11, 2021

Multibillion-dollar debt relief for minority farmers is backed by House committee

The House Agriculture Committee approved a landmark $4 billion program of debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers on Wednesday despite Republican objections that the aid was an unconstitutional form of reverse discrimination. Chairman David Scott, a Georgia Democrat, said minority farmers deserved the help because they had been overlooked in the mammoth trade war and coronavirus relief programs that began in 2018.

 

Urban Democrats join House Agriculture Committee

Although the House Agriculture Committee’s name screams “rural,” three of its new members are urban Democrats: Reps. Bobby Rush from Chicago, Ro Khanna from Silicon Valley, and Luis Correa from Orange County, California.

 

TODAY’S QUICK HITS

Move disrupted BLM: When the Trump administration moved the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado last year, all but 41 of the 328 employees in Washington quit, adding to the debate over how large the agency’s headquarters should be and how it can best do its job. (CPR News)

Cougar with coronavirus: A USDA laboratory confirmed a coronavirus infection in a cougar “at a facility that exhibits wild animals in Texas.” It was the first known Covid infection in a cougar in the United States. (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service)

 

Jemima becomes Pearl: The pancake mixes and syrups previously sold under the Aunt Jemima label were rebranded as Pearl Milling Co. and will arrive in grocery stores beginning in June, said the brand’s owner. (Pepsico)

 

Free school meals: All public school students in California would eat school meals for free under a bill filed in the California Senate. (Sen. Nancy Skinner)

 

Delaney to Senate: Patrick Delaney, press secretary for the House Agriculture Committee for the past two years, was hired by the Senate Agriculture Committee to be its director of external affairs. (The Hagstrom Report)

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