Latest news with #LeahDouglas
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
US senator seeks release of delayed security funds from FEMA
By Leah Douglas WASHINGTON -The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency must release months-overdue funding notices for security grants that help cities, ports, synagogues and other entities prevent terrorist threats, Democratic Senator Andy Kim said in a letter sent to the Trump administration on Wednesday. President Donald Trump has floated dismantling or reshaping dFEMA, and the administration has already cut billions in agency funding for community resilience grants. Twenty Democrat-led states sued the administration on Wednesday for canceling the resilience grant program after it was approved and funded by Congress. FEMA was statutorily required to issue funding notices for its security grant programs, which allocated $1.5 billion in 2024, by May 14, said Kim in the letter sent to Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem on Wednesday. Kim serves on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and is ranking member on its disaster subcommittee. "Each of these programs works differently; together they contribute to a multi-faceted approach to safer and more secure communities throughout our country," the letter said. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The funds are especially critical since the U.S.' June attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, after which the DHS warned of a heightened terrorism risk, the letter said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US farm agency ends program to support small businesses
By Leah Douglas WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday it would cut funding for a national network of centers that have supported thousands of small- and mid-sized farm and food businesses. The cuts are another hit to farmers from President Donald Trump's effort to shrink the size and cost of the federal government. The administration has previously canceled programs for local foods and food banks and climate-friendly farming, among others. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement that the agency was terminating the Regional Food Business Centers program because they were not financially sustainable. Four of the 12 centers will close immediately, and the remaining eight have the option to continue managing existing grants through next May, Rollins said. "USDA will honor existing commitments for over 450 grants to farmers and food businesses to ensure planning decisions on the farm can continue as normal, however stakeholders should not plan on this program continuing," she said. The USDA under former President Joe Biden spent $400 million to open the centers as part of its effort to increase resilience and competition in the U.S. food supply chain. The centers have provided training or technical assistance to more than 5,500 farms and businesses, according to a 2024 progress report. "The USDA has made yet another decision to prematurely end multi-year agreements that are effectively serving the small family farms the administration claims to be the focus of their agenda," said Hannah Quigley, policy specialist at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, a policy and advocacy group. 擷取數據時發生錯誤 登入存取你的投資組合 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US farm secretary says 'no amnesty' for farmworkers from deportation
By Leah Douglas WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that there will be "no amnesty" for agricultural workers from the Trump administration's efforts to deport all immigrants in the country illegally. The farm sector has warned that mass deportation of farm workers would disrupt the U.S. food supply. The administration of President Donald Trump in June signaled it might pause raids on some farm worksites before reversing course. Rollins said the administration wants a 100% American workforce and suggested some people receiving government aid could replace immigrant workers. "Ultimately, the answer on this is automation, also some reform within the current governing structure. And then also, when you think about, there are 34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program. There are plenty of workers in America," she said at a press conference outside the Department of Agriculture headquarters. Rollins also said at the press conference that the USDA will curb farmland purchases by "foreign adversaries," including China. Rollins said she will be a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, "as of this afternoon."
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
States would struggle to administer food stamp benefits under Republican tax bill
By Leah Douglas WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. states will not be able to fully administer food stamp benefits for millions of the nation's poor if a proposal in the Republican tax bill forcing them to shoulder billions of dollars in new costs is signed into law, according to state officials, local government associations and policy experts. More than 41 million people receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation's largest food aid program, which cost about $100 billion in 2024. The tax bill passed on May 22 by the U.S. House of Representatives and backed by President Donald Trump would shift some $22 billion in administrative and benefit costs to state and local governments, according to a Reuters analysis. Supporters of the move say it will promote accountability and reduce waste in the program. But states fear it will backfire. "No state is going to be able to simply absorb that," Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, told Reuters. Officials from North Carolina, Oregon and Michigan also said their states did not have the resources to easily take on the spending requirements in the proposal, which is now before the Senate. Some states could be forced to shrink SNAP eligibility or to leave the program altogether, according to letters sent in May to Congressional and agriculture committee leadership from state and county legislatures and health officials. "Shifting the financial burden of SNAP onto states is fiscally unsustainable and risks harming the very individuals and families the program is designed to support," said one letter from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other letters were sent by the National Association of Counties, National Association of County Human Services Administrators and the American Public Human Services Association. A USDA spokesperson said that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins supports Trump's agenda and that the agency will continue to provide technical assistance to states. Republicans have long supported reduced spending on SNAP, arguing that the program creates a dependence on federal support and should be more narrowly targeted to the most vulnerable. Reuters could not reach a representative from the Republican Governors Association or from Texas, Florida or Georgia, the Republican-led states facing the highest SNAP costs. STATES WOULD STRUGGLE The House bill would require states for the first time to pay for a portion of SNAP benefits beginning in 2028, with their payment share from 5% to 25% tied to the state's error rate, a USDA measure of how accurately states determine eligibility and benefit levels. Nationwide, that would amount to more than $20 billion in spending, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bill would also require states to immediately pay 75% of the cost of administering the SNAP program, up from their existing 50% obligation, adding another $2 billion to the sum, according to USDA data. The states facing the most new spending would be California ($3.7 billion), New York ($2.1 billion), Florida ($1.7 billion) and Texas ($1.2 billion). The state spending requirements would push 1.3 million people off of SNAP in an average month, because some states would modify eligibility requirements or stop administering SNAP, according to a May 22 letter from the Congressional Budget Office to House and Senate agriculture committee leadership. Michigan does not have the ability to support $850 million in new SNAP spending and may need to restrict eligibility or reduce benefits if the House bill passes, said Elizabeth Hertel, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services. Oregon would struggle to absorb more than $477 million and the state is planning for what they would do if forced to take on the spending, said Claire Seguin, director of the division of the Oregon Department of Human Services that administers SNAP. North Carolina is already budget constrained and "there isn't really a way to backfill" more than $650 million in new SNAP spending, said Department of Health and Human Services secretary Dev Sangvai, who did not provide details on what steps the state would take if the provision passes. New York also cannot absorb its projected costs, Barbara Guinn, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, told Senators during a June 4 forum on the SNAP proposal. Because most states must balance their budgets and cannot accrue debt to offset new spending like the federal government can, shifting SNAP spending to states risks drawing down resources from other public programs like Medicaid, said Eric Mitchell, president of the Alliance to End Hunger. The bill would also expand work requirements for some SNAP recipients and restrict states' ability to waive those requirements when unemployment ticks up, which together would push another 3.2 million people off of SNAP in an average month, according to the CBO.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
USDA redaction of trade analysis causes concern about report integrity
By Julie Ingwersen and Leah Douglas CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Analysts voiced concerns this week about the integrity of U.S. Department of Agriculture reports after the agency delayed a report and excluded findings that point to tariffs as a reason for a forecasted increase in the agricultural trade deficit, according to Reuters interviews with four analysts. The administration of President Donald Trump has pledged to shrink the farm trade deficit and has said tariffs will strengthen the farm economy, but farm groups have been critical of the approach. The agency's delay of a quarterly agricultural trade report and exclusion of its typical explanatory text were concerning because the moves raised questions about the objectivity of the data, two analysts said. "The trade is uneasy about USDA statistics now," said Charlie Sernatinger, head of grains with Marex, a brokerage and financial services company. A USDA spokesperson said the report was delayed by an internal review. "The report was hung up in internal clearance process and was not finalized in time for its typical deadline. Given this report is not statutory as with many other reports USDA does, the department is undergoing a review of all of its non-statutory reports, including this one, to determine next steps," the spokesperson said. The quarterly trade outlook report jointly published by the USDA's Economic Research Service and Foreign Agricultural Service was scheduled to be released on May 29. Shortly before it was set to publish, its authors were told to stop its release, according to a source familiar with the situation. The authors were then questioned by leaders at the ERS, FAS and USDA Office of the Chief Economist about the report's attribution of the growing agriculture trade deficit to tariffs and sentiments like "Buy Canadian" that have reduced demand for U.S. goods, the source said. In the delayed report released on Monday, the USDA raised its forecast of the U.S. agriculture trade deficit for fiscal-year 2025 to $49.5 billion, from the $49 billion it previously forecast in February. The version of the report published on Monday contains correct and unaltered data, the source said, but excludes explanatory text typically contained in the forecasts. The report delay and redaction were first reported by Politico. Such trade reports would typically be reviewed by communications and policy staff, but the removal of the explanatory text was highly unusual, according to a second source familiar with the report publication process. Two other analysts said they were confident in the USDA data for now, but expressed concern about how Trump's disruption of the federal government could affect future reports. "Departures of key personnel limit the ability of agencies to collect and analyze information," said Patrick Westhoff, director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri. The USDA has lost about 27% of ERS employees and 14% of FAS employees to terminations or voluntary incentives to leave the agency as the Trump administration works to reduce the size and cost of the federal government, according to Reuters reporting. The U.S. had an agricultural trade surplus for decades but in recent years, imports of high-value goods like alcohol, fruits and vegetables have driven a growing deficit, according to USDA data.
