Washington, Feb 3: US lawmakers in a letter urged President Biden to lift a freeze on payments from the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to American farmers, who have been forced by pandemic-related bottlenecks to cull livestock and dump milk they were unable to move to market.
“While we understand the desire of a new administration to review rulemakings underway before continuing, we do not see fit to suspend such an important and timely program ? necessary for stabilizing infrastructures,” the letter signed by 15 House lawmakers said Tuesday.
In January, the Biden administration suspended the CFAP as part of a White House review of Trump administration regulations and rulemaking.
At stake is about $2.28 billion in payments due to farmers to compensate for disruptions in the food supply chain due to COVID-19 that have forced them to take drastic measures, including dumping excess milk and culling livestock herds, according to the Agriculture Department.
Prior to the freeze, the CFAP distributed about $23.6 billion in payments during the pandemic in two iterations of the program, an Agriculture Department website said.
(AGENCIES)
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