Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Pritzker criticizes USDA axing of program that buys food from local farms and ranches (Updated)

Tuesday, Mar 11, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Agriculture Department has axed two programs that gave schools and food banks money to buy food from local farms and ranchers, halting more than $1 billion in federal spending.

Roughly $660 million that schools and child care facilities were counting on to purchase food from nearby farms through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program in 2025 has been canceled, according to the School Nutrition Association.

State officials were notified Friday of USDA’s decision to end the LFS program for this year. More than 40 states had signed agreements to participate in previous years, according to SNA and several state agencies.

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which supports food banks and other feeding organizations, has also been cut. USDA notified states that it was unfreezing funds for existing LFPA agreements but did not plan to carry out a second round of funding for fiscal year 2025.

In a statement, a USDA spokesperson confirmed that funding, previously announced last October, “is no longer available and those agreements will be terminated following 60-day notification.”

* The Hill…

Democratic governors are also objecting to the cuts, saying they will impact students and farmers alike.

“Cutting funds for these programs is a slap in the face to Illinois farmers and the communities they feed,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.

“The Trump Administration’s refusal to release grant funds doesn’t just hurt farmers in the program, it devastates our most vulnerable, food-insecure communities relying on meat, fresh produce and other nutritious donations.”

I asked and the governor’s office said the Illinois portion of this is roughly $27 million.

* The House Agriculture & Conservation Committee is having a hearing about this topic today in Room 115…

Investigating the negative impact of the USDA funding freeze, tariffs, and the delayed farm bill on Illinois Agriculture

…Adding… Illinois Department of Agriculture…

Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) Director Jerry Costello II, along with key stakeholders representing farmers, research institutions, and food banks, appeared before the General Assembly’s House Agriculture & Conservation Committee hearing to discuss federal funding cuts and tariffs – which amount to taxes on working farmers.

Costello’s testimony in Springfield focused on several agreements between USDA and IDOA, including the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) and the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI). Illinois was the only state in the nation to prioritize socially disadvantaged farmers. These same farmers will lose over tens of millions of dollars in fair market value payments for crops and livestock they are currently raising as well as the ability to invest in infrastructure for growth and sustainability.

The purpose of the LFPA program is to “maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency.” The cooperative agreements between USDA and states allow states “to procure and distribute local and regional foods and beverages that are healthy, nutritious … and meet the needs of the population.” The program was intended to serve “food banks and organizations that reach underserved communities” and would help “build and expand economic opportunity for local and underserved producers.”[1] The intent of the program is to target socially disadvantaged farmers.[2]

“LFPA was designed to support both ends of the food chain – farmers and those they feed. Cutting the funding leaves farmers on the hook for expenses they incurred believing they would be reimbursed and leaves our most vulnerable, food-insecure communities without meat, fresh produce and other nutritious donations they were promised,” said IDOA Director Jerry Costello II. “The federal government broke its promise, and the people of Illinois are paying the price.”

IDOA announced on January 17, 2025, an additional $14.7 million was awarded by the federal government for this program. The USDA recently announced the funds were terminated.

The purpose of the RFSI program is “to build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, to provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses. The RFSI program requires farmers to make upfront investments in input costs with the promise of grant dollars to reimburse them. Without those federal funds, the program is unable to operate.

The RFSI program would have provided $6.4 million in grant funds to build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, supporting activities that happen after harvest and prior to retail such as processing, storing and transporting Illinois products. In recent surveys of Illinois farmers, infrastructure and equipment were identified as the greatest obstacle to creating local food systems.

“Governor Pritzker called the move ‘a slap in the face to Illinois farmers and the communities they feed’ and I couldn’t agree more,” Costello said. “These are federal funds that were passed by Congress, a coequal branch of government, signed into law, and promised to Illinois farmers. They have been cut with no explanation or timeline, and farmers are left to deal with the consequences.”

Other federal funding sources of concern are the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) which launched the successful Conservation Planner program creating a talent pipeline attracting a workforce to implement boots on the ground conservation measures; Specialty Crop Block Grants which funded research to increase the state’s competitiveness in the industry; the I-COVER program, a three-state initiative to encourage cover crop adoption and technology advances; and the agreement for state inspectors to ensure food safety at more than 190 meat and poultry processing plants in Illinois.

In addition to federal funding cuts, Costello explained to the committee the impact of Trump’s tariffs on Illinois farmers before testimony from industry groups and others.

Three countries – Canada, China and Mexico – account for 48% of all US agricultural exports, $91 billion of the total $191 billion exported annually.

Illinois is the third largest exporter of agricultural products in the nation. Illinois farmers export $2 billion in products to Canada; $2.9 billion to Mexico and $1.9 billion to China.

“These tariffs are an attack on Illinois farmers. Countries forced to pay them may simply find new trade partners beyond the U.S.,” Costello said. “Illinois farmers are then left to struggle with shrinking markets on top of rising costs and declining crop prices.”

11 Comments

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password) (Updated)

Tuesday, Mar 11, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

Comments Off

Roundup: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson fends off congressional Republicans (Updated)

Thursday, Mar 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* [From Rich: I think the bar was set so super-low for Johnson that he cleared it. Also, local Chicago reporters who relentlessly hyped the mayor’s appearance may have failed to consider that Congress is chock full of people who almost solely exist to go viral on social media or appear on their particular factions’ cable news programs. The congresscritters proved to be far less formidable than the pre-hearing hype suggested. Johnson’s rehearsed answers clearly frustrated committee members hoping to knock him off script. And it helped that some of the other mayors, particularly Boston’s, did quite well.]

* Sun-Times political columnist Lynn Sweet…

What a good day for beleaguered Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. He was attacked by several Republicans for polling 6% in one survey, which is pretty lousy. Another Republican committee member tried to make Johnson look bad in the wake of the city’s inspector general report a few weeks ago that he did not properly report luxury gifts — not good, but later rectified.

Johnson had a good day because he avoided disaster while he defended Chicago’s “Welcoming City” Ordinance, in place since 1985. The law does not block federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from doing their jobs. When proper and legal, Chicago does cooperate with federal authorities.

Johnson was calm, measured, soft-spoken and disciplined, with days of prep since landing in Washington Sunday. The city hired the D.C. law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, whose partners have expertise in prepping witnesses for high-stakes hearings.

For Johnson, absorbing a few insults about being unpopular and taking a punch about not disclosing gifts in this context was nothing.

* Fran Spielman and Mitchell Armentrout at the Sun-Times…

Under questioning from Pennsylvania Republican Scott Perry, Johnson was asked to define Chicago’s 40-year-old sanctuary city policy.

“You have welcomed 51,648 aliens to your sanctuary city. So I ask you: Sanctuary from what?” Perry said.

Johnson replied, “If you’re referring to the number of individuals that were bused by [Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott without any coordination — the 52,000 individuals that were seeking asylum — those individuals were bused to us.”

Johnson said he “passed a bus ordinance to work to coordinate with” Abbott, but “he refused to do that.”

“So, you don’t care about federal law enforcement policies. Only local policies,” Perry later said. Johnson stood his ground.

“We comply with all laws. What I do care about is this body — Washington — passing comprehensive immigration reform,” Chicago’s mayor replied.

* Tribune…

GOP Illinois Rep. Darin LaHood, not a member of the committee, joined at the end and launched into a detailed takedown of the mayor. “I’ve been amazed at how tone-deaf you have been and how oblivious you’ve been to the decline of Chicago,” LaHood said.

Johnson fired back by saying crime has gone down since he’s been mayor. Chicago ended 2024 with a 7% drop in shootings, per police data, though its gun violence epidemic still far outpaces that of the other cities represented Wednesday.

“I will not apologize for my investments in the people of Chicago,” Johnson told the congressman. “We have one of the most diverse economies, the top universities. As violence continues to go down and investments continue to go up, that is what’s most important.” […]

Multiple GOP members said the mayors deserve to be prosecuted for their sanctuary policies, picking up on the Trump Justice Department’s January memo ordering the investigation of state and local officials who “threaten to impede” the president’s immigration crackdown. Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna declared: “Unfortunately, based on your responses, I’m all going to be criminally referring you to the Department of Justice for investigation.”

* WTTW…

Few of the questions from Republican members of the committee reflected an understanding of Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, which does not require city officials to encourage immigrants to move to Chicago nor does it obligate officials to use taxpayer funds to care for immigrants in Chicago.

In addition, most of the migrants who made their way to Chicago after crossing the southern border, are not undocumented after requesting asylum and getting permission to remain in the United States while their cases are resolved.

Since Trump took office, many undocumented immigrants have returned to life in the city’s shadows, for fear of exposing themselves or their families to deportation, immigrant advocates said.

* Crain’s…

“These policies only create sanctuaries for criminals,” Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who is chairman of the committee, said in his opening statement. “Sanctuary policies violate federal immigration law by protecting criminal aliens at the expense of the American people.”

Comer said that in Chicago, “an illegal alien who was recently arrested for killing a 63-year-old man had previously been arrested in Chicago for trying to lure a child. (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) lodged a detainer against the criminal alien, but Chicago authorities released him back onto the street because of the city’s reckless sanctuary policy. And now an innocent man is dead because of Chicago’s refusal to follow the law.”

When Comer pressed Johnson on that case, the Chicago mayor said, “We do not harbor criminals.” The city routinely cooperates with federal authorities when they have a criminal warrant, he said.

“With a criminal warrant,” Johnson said, immigrant suspects “are subject to federal laws, and that includes deportation.”

* WBEZ…

But it was not a flawless performance. At one point, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., asked Johnson how much the city has spent to support migrants.

In his prep, Johnson was advised to give a percentage, instead of a raw number, to paint how small the amount is in the broader context. […]

But it might have left people wondering whether he knew his facts.

“If you don’t have a hard number, you’re not running your city well,” Donalds quipped.

…Adding… [From Rich: The Illinois House Republicans appear to acknowledge that the DC hearing could’ve gone better.] HRO press release…

Following the Congressional hearing on sanctuary city policies and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s embarrassing testimony, Illinoisans are left with more questions than answers on how taxpayer dollars are being used to support illegal immigrants. The Illinois House Republican Organization is calling on House Democrats to demand that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson testify before a legislative committee in Springfield after his evasive and inadequate responses before Congress.

* More…

* NYT | Brandon Johnson Counters Republican Attacks at ‘Sanctuary City’ Hearing: At times, especially when responding to friendly questions from Democrats, Mr. Johnson pushed back against Republicans’ characterizations of Chicago, which generally ranged from unflattering to dystopian. Mr. Johnson talked about Chicago’s business growth and its airport, and used the stage to call Chicago the best “freakin’ city in the world,” one of his favorite phrases.

* Block Club | Mayor Johnson Forcefully Defends Chicago’s Sanctuary Status During Congressional Hearing: Texas Rep. Brandon Gill, a far-right Republican married to the daughter of conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza, later got into an extended exchange with Johnson over issues with little or no relation to the city’s Welcoming City ordinance. That included ripping Johnson over the city’s so-called gift room, which was the subject of an Inspector General report published in late January that took aim at an informal agreement over how the mayor and his staff accept gifts on behalf of the city.

* Fox Chicago | Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson testifies in front of House committee: Lori Lightfoot reacts: Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot criticized the hearings as a “sideshow.” Lightfoot, who lost reelection to Johnson in the mayoral primary in 2023, reportedly helped her successor prepare for the hearing. The trained attorney told Fox 32 that she approached it like she was preparing a witness.

* ABC Chicago | Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson testifies in DC at sanctuary city hearing: “The advice I would have given him going in was certainly to stay focused, not to go off message, to stay on message, not to be baited,” political consultant Delmarie Cobb said.

30 Comments

« NEWER POSTS