Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office ruled Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack could use the Commodity Credit Corporation to fund climate programs, but some lawmakers wanted to limit his authority on using it.
The 2024 Ag Spending Bill held a provision to roll back Secretary Vilsack’s CCC spending authority. That move failed on the House floor, and the Senate bill did not even include it. However, Senator John Hoeven with the Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittee says feelings around CCC spending largely depend on who is in office.
Spending restrictions were put in place after the 2010 Congressional campaign, but were lifted in 2018 to compensate farmers for the trade war with China and the pandemic.
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March 15 of each year is the application deadline for the Pima Cotton Trust, and March 1 of each year is the application deadline for the Wool Trust. The law mandates trust payments by April 15. More information about these programs is available at www.fas.usda.gov/programs.
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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the availability of over $275 million in grant funding in FY2026 for the specialty crop industry in the United States through three USDA programs.
