HAPPENING SOON: Before leaving for the weekend, senators teed up confirmation votes for several Trump nominees including Rollins, Trump’s pick for Agriculture secretary. Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told Senate Ag Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) to expect a vote on Rollins’ nomination this week, though exact timing isn’t certain. She’s expected to have a smooth — if not unanimous — confirmation process before the full Senate. The Senate Ag Committee advanced her nomination 23-0 last week. NEWS FROM 1400 INDEPENDENCE: Though Rollins isn’t yet confirmed, big changes to USDA programs and workforce are already in motion as part of the Trump administration’s federal agency overhaul. Federal agencies are telling farmers that they can't make payments promised in signed contracts, creating new economic hardships ahead of a planting season likely to bear the marks of Trump administration policies. “I might lose my farm because of the government,” Skylar Holden, a Missouri farmer with a conservation contract, said in a recent TikTok. “I spent money based on a contract we signed. They’re reneging on it. I’m screwed.” More details: The payment pause initiated when President Donald Trump issued a Jan. 20 executive order to halt Inflation Reduction Act spending is continuing despite court orders lifting all federal spending freezes. Its impact is being felt at a time when farmers are making critical business decisions for planting season, compounding financial pain when they’re worried about the threat of tariffs and the shutdown of a federal agency that buys millions of dollars worth of farm commodities. USDA confirmed on Friday that the freeze “includes all payments under [Natural Resources Conservation Service] program contracts that are funded through the IRA.” USDA pays farmers under a variety of support programs for conservation practices like planting cover crops or installing energy efficiency equipment in their barns. While some of the programs predate the Biden administration, Congress gave them a major boost through the Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump has promised to scrap. Our Marcia Brown has the full story for Pro subscribers here. TRUMP’S NEXT TARIFF STEP: Trump on Friday said he would be announcing tariffs this week that match the duties imposed by other countries, in what would be a major shift from his previous threat to impose an across-the-board tariff on all imports from across the world, as our Victoria Guida and Doug Palmer wrote. Trump, who said the tariffs would apply to every country, added that the announcement would likely come “Monday or Tuesday.” "I think that's the only fair way to do it that way nobody's hurt," the president continued. Other Trump targets: The president also said Sunday that he’d be imposing new tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump said the new duties would apply to all countries, including Canada and Mexico, which had those tariffs removed as part of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which Trump himself signed into law during his first administration. UPDATE ON USAID OVERHAUL: After Ag Committee lawmakers raised alarms of food aid being paused, the State Department has resumed shipping food deliveries, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) posted Saturday on X. Lawmakers told MA last week that Donald Trump’s overhaul of USAID could impact food aid deliveries and U.S. producers that receive federal contracts for international aid. USDA also clarified over the weekend that food aid programs like the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Childhood Nutrition Program and the Food for Progress Program will continue to receive funds and federal support. Some context: The U.S. spends about $4 billion per year to provide international food assistance to countries in need, through emergency food assistance and agricultural support like providing seeds, according to the Government Accountability Office. USAID purchases billions every year in traditional commodities like rice and wheat from U.S. farmers. Craig said last week that more than $340 million in food aid was stuck at U.S. export ports or in limbo, unable to be delivered due to funding freezes and furloughs of staff.
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