House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) is proposing to block the White House request over its farm bailout program, potentially imperiling President Trump’s ability to direct payments to thousands of farmers, the Washington Post reported. A key Republican responded by attacking the Democrat’s move, saying it could threaten passage of a key bill needed to avoid a government shutdown. The bailout has emerged as one of several unresolved issues that lawmakers still need to sort out in order to meet a deadline by the end of this month. The bailout program was created last year amid complaints from agriculture groups that China had stopped purchasing their crops in retaliation for new tariffs that the White House imposed on Chinese imports. Trump has ordered that billions of dollars in taxpayer funds be paid directly to farmers as a way to offset their losses. The bailout hadn’t needed congressional approval up to this point, but now the timing of the payments is tied to congressional approval. The Department of Agriculture is planning to spend upwards of $28 billion in payments over two years, but the Depression-era program Trump is using for the program has a $30 billion borrowing limit that they are expected to hit this year before the completion of a second round of payments.
