Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack faced questions Wednesday about a lawsuit being mounted by white farmers over the Biden administration’s $4 billion race-based loan forgiveness program, pointing out that racial targeting is forbidden under the Constitution.
Vilsack, appearing at the White House daily briefing, was asked about a group of white farmers from Midwestern states who sued over the program, claiming it discriminates against them because of their race.
Farmers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Ohio sued Vilsack and the Farm Service Agency.
“They are otherwise eligible for the loan-forgiveness program in ARPA, except for the color of their skin. As white farmers, Plaintiffs are ineligible for this government benefit,” the lawsuit says.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defended the Biden administration’s loan forgiveness plan. REUTERS“The United States Constitution ’forbids’ discrimination by the federal governmentagainst any citizen because of his race,” the lawsuit filed in federal court in Wisconsin says.
“I think there is a very legitimate reason for doing what we’re doing. I think it has to be complemented with additional steps, which the American Rescue Plan provides,” Vilsack said at the briefing.
He noted the creation of an “equity commission” to find racial barriers in the USDA, the expansion of the amount of technical assistance available, and providing for better access to land and markets ”for socially disadvantaged producers.”
”I think you have to take it back, 20 or 30 years, when we know for a fact that socially disadvantaged producers were discriminated against by the United States Department of Agriculture. We know this,” he said.
He said those “cumulative effects” have benefited white farmers by giving them access to USDA technology and programs, as well as investment opportunities that allowed their farms to flourish and grow.
”If I had limited access, or no access, to USDA programs, obviously, my operation, significantly limited,” Vilsack said.
“So the American Rescue Plan’s effort is to begin to address the cumulative effect of that discrimination in terms of socially disadvantaged producers,” he added.
“Secondly, when you look at the COVID relief packages that have been passed and distributed by USDA prior to the American Rescue Plan, and you look at who disproportionately received the benefits of those COVID payments,” he said, “It’s pretty clear that white farmers did pretty well under that program because of the way it was structured. It’s structured on size, it’s structured on production.”
The Trump administration distributed $19 billion in aid to farmers from May to December 2020 to help them cope with costs associated to the coronavirus pandemic.
