American farmers voiced their frustrations over government shutdowns that are entering their third week, expressing concerns about the US Department of Agriculture’s impaired operation and other issues such as farm loans and disaster payments.
The shutdown, which started on October 1st, will not affect some Department of Agriculture programs such as SNAP payments, but will affect other areas that are relevant to America’s more than three million farmers.
A video posted by the White House sharing testimonials from the farmers expressed urgency for reopening the government.
“My name is Zach Bennett, and I’m an American farmer. Each day that this government shutdown continues, it is hurting the American farmer and hurting the American public,” one said while standing in a field.
Another in Indiana said that the Department of Agriculture needs to be able to operate ‘full steam ahead’ to support America’s farmers. (RELATED: Shutdown Showdown: Democrats Refuse to Deal)
“I’m Nikki Ellis, an American hog farmer, the government shutdown affects us even here on our farm, we need USDA rolling full steam ahead,” Ellis said.
Already, nearly half of the USDA’s 86,000 employees have been furloughed as the governments operations continue to be impaired due to the shutdown, putting many of the Department’s key services on hold until the federal government is fully funded again.
“Every day that our government is shut down, hard working Americans suffer,” one farmer in the video said. “Senator Schumer is keeping our government shut down, which is hurting us, farmers. The Senate needs to pass the House Republicans’ clean continuing resolution and reopen our government.”
The shutdown is not likely to let up in the next week as Senate Democrats blocked efforts to reopen the government yesterday and have escalated demands to include reversals of firings that have occurred in the first year of the Trump administration. (RELATED: Democrats Target Wisconsin’s Steil and Van Orden in National Redistricting Wars)
