The USDA spending bill that President Biden just signed for the rest of this fiscal year limits the Ag Secretary’s discretion in spending funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation, which is USDA’s financing institution.
The Ag spending bill requires the Secretary to give Congress 15-days’ notice and spending details before transferring $100 million or more from the CCC.
The provision is based on the earlier “USDA Spending Accountability Act,” led by Republican Senators Roger Marshall, Mike Braun and Iowa’s Chuck Grassley.
Republicans argue that the CCC has been used for politically-driven projects. But Secretary Tom Vilsack says he sees it differently.
“The ARC payments and the PLC payments and the CRP payments, all come from the Commodity Credit Corporation. So, they’ve done it in the past.”
That’s Secretary Vilsack citing legitimate CCC use to fund previous farm bills. Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow pointed to Vilsack’s earlier ok of a bipartisan request to use CCC funds for trade promotion.
The earlier GOP bill would use half its $8 billion estimated ten-year savings for market development and research, the other half for deficit reduction.
Republicans criticize the CCC’s use for climate programs and other Democratic priorities and say even the Government Accountability Office has ruled USDA should have asked Congress first.
