Agriculture Secretary <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tom-vilsack" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tom-vilsack" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">Tom Vilsack</a> never attended meetings of the task force he co-chaired to help resolve the nation’s <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://dailywire.com/topic/supply-chain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://dailywire.com/topic/supply-chain" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">supply chain</a> woes, according to a public records request from the Functional Government Institute.
A public records request from the Functional Government Institute revealed that the Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, created by the White House two years ago, suffered from nonexistent leadership. The Agriculture Department only produced 19 pages of <a href="https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-OSEC-04513-F-Responsive_Redacted.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">records</a> related to the entity after five months and a federal lawsuit from the Functional Government Institute; 14 of the pages were copied from public statements about the initiative, and none of the records provided evidence that Vilsack or his deputies attended any meetings.
“As the administration rightly recognized in creating the Task Force, supply chain issues threaten the economic and national security of the country,” Functional Government Institute Spokesman Peter McGinnis said in a <a href="https://functionalgovernment.org/usda-secretary-vilsacks-leadership-of-the-supply-chain-task-force-all-hat-and-no-cattle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “Secretary Vilsack’s failure to convene a single meeting with his fellow leaders, while dedicating federal resources to investigate and blame the private sector, shows that the Task Force was little more than a cynical attempt to signal engagement on supply chain disruptions while, in fact, doing little or nothing.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were also named co-chairs of the task force, according to a June 2021 <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/08/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-supply-chain-disruptions-task-force-to-address-short-term-supply-chain-discontinuities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from the White House, which added that the officials would focus on bottlenecked products such as construction materials, semiconductors, and food supplies. Vilsack said in another <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2021/06/08/usda-invest-more-4-billion-strengthen-food-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> that he was eager to “mobilize a whole-of-government effort to address the short-term supply challenges our country faces as it recovers.”
The Functional Government Institute noted that Buttigieg’s calendars during his two-month <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transportation-secretary-pete-buttigieg-has-been-on-paid-leave-for-months-amid-supply-chain-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paternity leave</a> likewise show he did not participate in any meetings for the initiative. More recently, Buttigieg <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/buttigieg-vacationed-in-posh-european-tourist-destination-as-rail-unions-neared-strike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vacationed</a> in Portugal as the possibility of a nationwide rail strike loomed at the end of last year.
Lockdowns and public health mandates imposed by many governments across the world fostered unpredictable supply chain shocks, contributing to inflation in many countries. Sectors impacted most severely by foreign bottleneck exposure, such as automotive manufacturing, textiles, and basic metals, also witnessed the most potent inflationary pressures, according to an <a href="https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synopses/2022/05/12/supply-chain-disruptions-and-inflation-during-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The creation of the Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force occurred after industry leaders pressed the Biden administration to offer “strong leadership” in addressing the crisis. “The supply chain disruption issues, especially the congestion affecting our key maritime ports, are causing significant challenges for America’s retailers,” National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay wrote in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-need-strong-leadership-executives-beg-biden-to-fix-supply-chain-issues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to President Joe Biden. “As the administration undergoes supply chain reviews for critical sectors, including transportation, addressing the current state of our nation’s ports and freight movement needs to be a critical component of the strategy.”
Biden administration officials have nevertheless taken credit for partial mitigation in price level increases. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently remarked that “we continue to see improvement in supply chains” during an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/janet-yellen-says-inflation-has-been-quite-moderate-quite-low-for-the-last-six-months" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with NPR and claimed that inflation “has really been quite moderate, quite low for the last six months or so,” even as price increases remain well above the 2% annual rate seen before the lockdown-induced recession.

US-POLITICS-HARRIS-SPACE

Top Biden Officials Responsible For Leading Supply Chain Task Force Never Even Showed Up To Meetings: Report

Vilsack, Buttigieg Absent From Supply Chain Task Force Meetings As Economy Languished

Biden Administration

Economy

Inflation

Pete Buttigieg

Politics

Supply Chain

Tom Vilsack

The Biden administration forged ahead with racial preferences that nearly excluded white farmers from receiving COVID-19 debt relief, even though it knew those preferences were unconstitutional.
Judges in three states earlier this year ruled against the Biden administration’s preferences, noting it was “governmentally imposed discrimination based on race.” As The Daily Wire previously reported, judges in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-halts-biden-4-billion-relief-program-that-excludes-white-farmers-discrimination-based-on-race">Florida</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-third-judge-strikes-down-bidens-racist-farm-aid-program-that-excludes-whites">Tennessee</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-judge-halts-biden-administration-program-that-discriminated-against-white-farmers-saying-lawsuit-could-be-successful">Wisconsin</a> all shot down the administration’s policy after lawsuits were filed alleging discrimination.
In Florida, U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard wrote in her decision that the government was imposing discriminatory policies.
“Congress also must heed its obligation to do away with governmentally imposed discrimination based on race,” Howard <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/06/23/black-farmers-debt-relief-preliminary-injunction/">wrote</a>, adding that “it appears that in adopting Section 1005’s strict race-based debt relief remedy Congress moved with great speed to address the history of discrimination, but did not move with great care.”
In Tennessee, U.S. District Court Judge S. Thomas Anderson wrote in his decision that the “Absent action by the Court, socially disadvantaged farmers will obtain debt relief, while Plaintiff will suffer the irreparable harm of being excluded from that program solely on the basis of his race.”
In Wisconsin, Judge William Griesbach ruled that the USDA’s “use of race-based criteria in the administration of the program violates their right to equal protection under the law.”
“Aside from a summary of statistical disparities, defendants have no evidence of intentional discrimination by the USDA in the implementation of the recent agriculture subsidies and pandemic relief efforts,” Griesbach wrote, noting that the policy was “a loan-forgiveness program purportedly intended to provide economic relief to disadvantaged individuals without actually considering the financial circumstances of the applicant.”
“Congress can implement race-neutral programs to help farmers and ranchers in need of financial assistance, such as requiring individual determinations of disadvantaged status or giving priority to loans of farmers and ranchers that were left out of the previous pandemic relief funding,” Griesbach added. “But it cannot discriminate on the basis of race.”
Even before these rulings, the Biden administration apparently knew the policy was unconstitutional, according to emails <a href="https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/08/19/agriculture-secretary-knew-bidens-racial-preferences-were-unconstitutional/">published</a> by civil rights attorney Hans Bader.
After the judges ruled against the Biden administration, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack claimed the farmers who filed the lawsuits were racist.
“It’s a wonder where those farmers were over the last 100 years when their black counterparts were being discriminated against, and didn’t hear a peep from white farmers about how unfortunate that circumstance was,” Vilsack <a href="https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/16056-vilsack-blasts-farmers-suing-over-minority-debt-relief">said</a>, according to Agri-Pulse.
“Now, we are seeing white farmers stepping up and asking why they’re not included in this program. Well, it’s pretty clear why they’re not included. Because they’ve had the full access of all of the programs for the last 100 years,” he added.
Vilsack also wrote an opinion column for GoErie, where the agriculture secretary said white farmers had advantages over black farmers, ignoring the issue that COVID-19 did not discriminate.
“White farmers have advantages, including more land and larger farms which have produced more crops and livestock over a longer, documented period of time. And because those farms are larger, better capitalized, and producing most of the crops and livestock, they get most of the USDA payments when payments are distributed. As a result, socially disadvantaged farmers continue to fall further and further behind,” Vilsack said.
Behind the scenes, Bader reported, Vilsack “apparently realized that the racial exclusion of whites was unconstitutional.” Bader reported:
<blockquote>In a June 2 <a href="https://libertyunyielding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BFF-v-USDA-Biden-transition-team-warned-black-farmer-relief-was-unconstitutional-says-Lawrence-Lucas-of-Justice-for-Black-Farmers-Group.pdf">email</a>, Lawrence Lucas of Justice for Black Farmers Group closes by noting, &#8216;Please remember it was the Biden/Harris transition team that you headed up that told us that debt relief for Black farmers was ‘unconstitutional.&#8217;” That’s a reference to when Vilsack was managing the Agriculture Department’s transition from the Trump administration to the Biden administration.
The email can be found <a href="https://libertyunyielding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BFF-v-USDA-Biden-transition-team-warned-black-farmer-relief-was-unconstitutional-says-Lawrence-Lucas-of-Justice-for-Black-Farmers-Group.pdf">at this link</a>. It was released on <a href="https://libertyunyielding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/USDA-FOIA-response-letter-2021-OSEC-03930-F-Signed-Final-Response.pdf">August 18</a>, in response to a <a href="https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/40964312/BADER_FAMILY_FOUNDATION_v_UNITED_STATES_DEPARTMENT_OF_AGRICULTURE">lawsuit</a> against the Agriculture Department by the Bader Family Foundation. It sued the Agriculture Department for failing to respond to a FOIA request from it and Liberty Unyielding.</blockquote>

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Biden Administration Knew Its Racial Preferences For COVID Relief Were Unconstitutional, Went Ahead Anyway

COVID

Racial Discrimination

The United States Department of Agriculture announced on Monday that it will be increasing benefits from its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program, otherwise known as food stamps. The move comes by way of funding from the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden&#8217;s COVID relief bill that was recently signed into law.
According to a <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2021/03/22/usda-increases-snap-benefits-100-household-funding-american-rescue">press release</a> by the USDA, the department plans to implement &#8220;a 15 percent increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits through September 2021, providing an estimated $3.5 billion to households experiencing food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic.&#8221; The expansion of 15% &#8220;will provide about $28 more per person, per month, or more than $100 more per month for a household of four, in additional SNAP benefits.&#8221;
“We cannot sit by and watch food insecurity grow in the United States,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The American Rescue Plan brings help to those hurting the most due to the pandemic. It increases SNAP benefits so households can afford to put food on the table. It invests in working people and small towns and small businesses to get the economy back on track. And it makes the most meaningful investments in generations to reduce poverty.”
According to <a href="https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/34SNAPmonthly-3a.pdf">data</a> provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, participation in the program increased from the fiscal year of 2019 to 2020 by over 4 million persons. From the fiscal year of 2020 to 2021, it increased by almost another 2 million persons. However, the fiscal year of 2018 shows similar numbers to 2020 and 2021 at 40.7 million people participating in the program. The 2020 and 2021 fiscal year participation numbers were around 39.8 million people and 41.7 million people, respectively.
The data also includes information about the costs of the benefits program. In 2018, the cost was over $60 billion, but during the fiscal year of 2019, the cost went down to $55 billion. In 2020, the cost increased to over $74 billion.
An <a href="https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/arp-national-factsheet.pdf">information sheet</a> on the nutrition program extension states that without the COVID relief bill, the expansion of the program in place would end in June. It states, &#8220;The extension will provide an estimated $3.5 billion in relief directly to over 41 million people living in struggling households. In addition to helping millions of families put food on the table, additional SNAP benefits are shown to have a powerful stimulative impact on the economy.&#8221; It also claims that more benefits provided through SNAP help to reduce child poverty by half, which it says is one of the American Rescue Plan&#8217;s &#8220;most powerful estimated impacts.&#8221;
The expansion will also assist states as they give out more benefits through SNAP by providing &#8220;an additional $1.135 billion in administrative resources for states over three years, without requiring states to match those funds.&#8221;
The government benefits <a href="https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/361">website</a> says that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is the largest of its kind. It allows low-income individuals and families to use an Electronic Benefits Transfer card in order to receive help in order to purchase food. The website explains, &#8220;This card can be used like a debit card to purchase eligible food in authorized retail food stores.&#8221;
People who wish to check if they are eligible for the program can visit the SNAP eligibility <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility">website</a>.

72690018-F58C-4E3A-B609-228DA3836CF6_1_201_a

USDA Increases Food Stamps Program With COVID Relief Bill Funding

American Rescue Plan

Food Stamps

The Senate has voted 92-7 to approve Tom Vilsack as President Joe Biden&#8217;s Agriculture secretary, the eighth confirmed Cabinet member of the new administration.
&#8220;After an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, Secretary Vilsack is officially confirmed,&#8221; Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. &#8220;I look forward to partnering with him to address the COVID-19 pandemic for our farmers, feed families in need, curb the climate crises, and address racial discrimination in agriculture.&#8221;
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After an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, Secretary Vilsack is officially confirmed! I look forward to partnering with him to address the COVID-19 pandemic for our farmers, feed families in need, curb the climate crisis, and address racial discrimination in agriculture.
&mdash; Sen. Debbie Stabenow (@SenStabenow) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenStabenow/status/1364313022777487363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Vilsack, 70, returns to the same position he held during the Obama administration, a role he filled for eight years as the former president’s longest-serving Cabinet member. He had previously gained extensive knowledge of the agriculture industry as a two-term governor of Iowa from 1999-2007.
The longtime Biden supporter takes over a USDA with 29 agencies and almost 100,000 employees. The department supports farmers and ranchers, funds food-aid services like school meals, and develops federal policy on natural resources, food safety, rural development, nutrition, and works to end hunger.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, voted against Vilsack&#8217;s confirmation, reportedly saying: &#8220;I like Tom, and I&#8217;ve known him for years. But I think we need somebody a little bit more vigorous in terms of protecting family farms and taking on corporate agriculture.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Bernie Sanders explains his &quot;no&quot; vote on Tom Vilsack, per <a href="https://twitter.com/seungminkim?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@seungminkim</a>: &quot;I like Tom, and I&#39;ve known him for years. But I think we need somebody a little bit more vigorous in terms of protecting family farms and taking on corporate agriculture.&quot;
&mdash; Grace Segers (@Grace_Segers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Grace_Segers/status/1364314565576638472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Republican Senators Ted Cruz (Texas), Josh Hawley (MO), Rand Paul (KY), Marco Rubio (FL), Dan Sullivan (AK), and Rick Scott (FL) also voted against Vilsack.
Several progressive groups, black farmers, and environmental leaders opposed Vilsack’s nomination, questioning whether his approval would result in a continuation of his performance during the Obama presidency.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not lost on me, ironically, that this is Groundhog Day, and I realize that I&#8217;m back again,&#8221; Vilsack <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/agriculture-secretary-tom-vilsack-confirmation-hearing-02-02-2021/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&amp;linkId=110544141">joked</a> at his confirmation hearing earlier this month, referencing a 1993 comedy film starring Bill Murray as a man trapped in a time loop, reliving the same day over and over.
Some of Vilsack’s critics <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/12/09/944434278/biden-plans-to-bring-vilsack-back-to-usda-despite-criticism-from-reformers">say</a> he has been beholden to corporate agriculture giants throughout his political career. Others accuse him of failing to address systemic racism within the department when he had the chance. They point out that weeks after Vilsack vacated his Cabinet position in January 2017, he started a job at a Big Dairy non-profit, where he has worked ever since.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Four more years of Tom Vilsack means more corporate-friendly policies that drain rural wealth and increase food insecurity. It will be a seamless transition from Trump’s USDA Sec to Vilsack: he will continue business as usual &#8211; working on behalf of Big Ag.
We must <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RejectVilsack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RejectVilsack</a> <a href="https://t.co/UN49gHx1vh">pic.twitter.com/UN49gHx1vh</a>
&mdash; RootsAction (@Roots_Action) <a href="https://twitter.com/Roots_Action/status/1353811521764093954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2021</a></blockquote>
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As president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), Vilsack became the highest-paid executive of its parent company, Dairy Management Inc, in his first full year of employment. He was paid almost $1 million in 2018, an <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/special-reports/dairy-crisis/2019/12/02/former-secretary-agriculture-tom-vilsack-top-paid-dairy-management-exec/4265818002/">investigation</a> by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found.
USDEC, a Dairy Management subsidiary, is <a href="https://www.usdec.org/about-us/our-farmer-funders">primarily funded</a> by dairy farmers that are mandated to pay into a federal checkoff program, which Vilsack will once again oversee during his second run as agriculture secretary. Congress requires dairy farmers to support a “dairy checkoff” fund used to promote and market the dairy industry. The Journal Sentinel report <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/special-reports/dairy-crisis/2019/12/02/former-secretary-agriculture-tom-vilsack-top-paid-dairy-management-exec/4265818002/">found</a> Dairy Management received more than $150 million from the checkoff program in both 2017 and 2018.
<a href="https://www.usdec.org/about-us">According</a> to its website, USDEC is an &#8220;independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, propriety processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders.&#8221;
“Pulling Tom Vilsack directly from the dairy lobby to the agency meant to regulate that industry would be disastrous for the climate,” Jennifer Molidor, senior food campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/tom-vilsack-for-agriculture-secretary-worries-environmentalists#.YCChRxPo7VI.twitter">told</a> Sierra, the national magazine of the Sierra Club. “The U.S. needs a secure, just, and climate-friendly food system, not an agency chief who will continue business-as-usual while the climate crisis grows.”
However, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/02/vilsack-usda-confirmation-hearing/">reported</a> that Vilsack’s confirmation hearing “was hardly a recapitulation of discussions from a decade ago.” According to The Post, it had been “full of references to climate change, greenhouse gas mitigation and carbon credit programs, and lessons learned from the pandemic about the vulnerabilities of our food system.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH: Secretary of Agriculture Nominee Tom Vilsack opening statement at his <a href="https://twitter.com/SenateAgDems?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenateAgDems</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SenateAgGOP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenateAgGOP</a> confirmation hearing. 
Full video here: <a href="https://t.co/jiBnxE06eA">https://t.co/jiBnxE06eA</a> <a href="https://t.co/uZ6UX4dO0y">pic.twitter.com/uZ6UX4dO0y</a>
&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1356639586433310724?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
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During the hearing, in which Vilsack appeared virtually, he <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2021/02/02/Pittsburgh-native-Tom-Vilsack-Agriculture-Department-secretary-Farming-Climate-Change-economy-covid-19/stories/202102020040?utm_term=Autofeed&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1612288584">acknowledged</a> “that this is a fundamentally different time,” adding, “I am a different person, and it is a different department.”
&#8220;Agriculture is one of our first and best ways to get some wins in this climate area,&#8221; he continued.
Vilsack said he wants to use funds from the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, a program that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-usda-vilsack/usda-can-steer-farm-aid-money-to-fight-climate-change-biden-ag-secretary-nominee-says-idUSKBN2A22O8">reportedly</a> receives up to $30 billion in annual funding, to fight climate change.
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/agriculture-secretary-tom-vilsack-confirmation-hearing-02-02-2021/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&amp;linkId=110544141">According</a> to CBS News, Vilsack pledged to “spur the industry” on biofuels, proposed “building a rural economy based on biomanufacturing” and “turning agricultural waste into a variety of products.”
Vilsack also mentioned establishing an “equity task force” to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/04/black-farmers-vilsack-civil-rights-465889">review</a> USDA programs “and identify if there’s systemic racism…and intentional and unintentional barriers.” The idea aligns with an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/">executive order</a> President Biden signed on his first day in office to use the federal government to advance racial equity.
“We need to fully, deeply and completely address the longstanding inequities, unfairness and discrimination that has been the history of USDA programs for far too long,” Vilsack <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/04/black-farmers-vilsack-civil-rights-465889">said</a>.
The Associated Press <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/black-farmers-unconvinced-vilsacks-root-racism-vow-75780129">reports</a>:
<blockquote>Some Black farmers fault Vilsack for failing to adequately address a backlog of discrimination complaints that predated his arrival at the department in 2009, and they say he should have hired more minorities to high-level positions.
There&#8217;s also lingering bitterness about Vilsack&#8217;s treatment of Shirley Sherrod, a Black woman who served as USDA&#8217;s Georgia director of rural development. Vilsack fired her in 2010 after a conservative blogger posted an edited video of her supposedly making racist remarks, but he asked her to return when the full video surfaced showing that she was taken out of context. Sherrod declined the offer to come back.
“We have already seen what Vilsack is going to do. We don’t have a prayer if he gets in there,” said Rod Bradshaw, a 67-year-old Black farmer who raises wheat, cattle and milo on 2,000 acres near Jetmore, Kansas.
Some Black farmers want Biden to sign an executive order they drafted halting foreclosures on Black-owned farms and making other civil rights reforms.</blockquote>
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This is the correct vote. Vilsack failed farmers, farmworkers, the land, and the public, and Shirley Sherrod. <a href="https://t.co/cWQqNBg2aH">https://t.co/cWQqNBg2aH</a>
&mdash; Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZephyrTeachout/status/1364313747284705284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2021</a></blockquote>
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One black farmer told the AP that Vilsack “got a pass” during the Obama administration.
After Vilsack’s confirmation hearing, newly-elected Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) were <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/04/black-farmers-vilsack-civil-rights-465889">appointed</a> to the Senate Agriculture Committee. They are the second and third African-Americans to serve on that panel in its history.
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I’m thinking about farmers like Ricky Dollison, whose family has been feeding Georgians for generations. That’s why I introduced legislation to provide direct payments to farmers of color and address systemic racism at the U.S. Agriculture Department. <a href="https://t.co/0miYSsxEoJ">pic.twitter.com/0miYSsxEoJ</a>
&mdash; Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReverendWarnock/status/1360238622503555072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Both lawmakers recently introduced bills they say are aimed at addressing institutional racism within the USDA. Warnock’s proposal would <a href="https://twitter.com/ReverendWarnock/status/1360238622503555072">provide</a> direct payments to farmers of color. Meanwhile, Booker reintroduced <a href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-warren-gillibrand-smith-warnock-and-leahy-announce-comprehensive-bill-to-address-the-history-of-discrimination-in-federal-agricultural-policy">legislation</a> intended to correct alleged historical discrimination the USDA has exhibited toward generations of black farmers.

Obama’s Longest-Serving Cabinet Member Confirmed To Biden’s Cabinet

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Top Biden Officials Responsible For Leading Supply Chain Task Force Never Even Showed Up To Meetings: Report

Biden Administration Knew Its Racial Preferences For COVID Relief Were Unconstitutional, Went Ahead Anyway

USDA Increases Food Stamps Program With COVID Relief Bill Funding

Obama’s Longest-Serving Cabinet Member Confirmed To Biden’s Cabinet