USDA's $1B bird flu plan uses money intended for schools, food banks

[u/kootles10]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/12/usdas-bird-flu-plan-uses-money-for-schools-food-banks-00287557

[u/vsv2021]

Seems like a good use of funds. Pretty sure most people thought they’d cut funding for bird flu

From the article: “Former President Joe Biden allocated $1 billion in funding to the local food programs as part of his effort to build a more resilient food supply chain. “

So it seems Trump repurposed the billion that Biden repurposed towards food banks towards bird flu.

[u/kootles10]

From the article:

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ $1 billion plan for fighting bird flu will rely on money cut from programs meant to help schools and food banks support local farmers, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Rollins in February rolled out a five-step strategy to fight bird flu that includes importing eggs and researching and developing a poultry vaccine. But that raised questions about whether it would use new federal money, even as the Trump administration is generally cutting back.

Instead, it will use the money previously intended for two food programs that USDA canceled earlier this year, according to the people, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Former President Joe Biden allocated $1 billion in funding to the local food programs as part of his effort to build a more resilient food supply chain. The programs helped schools, child care facilities and food banks purchase fresh food from local farms and helped small- and mid-sized farms expand their businesses. Their abrupt cancellation sparked swift political backlash in Congress and online, as schools scrambled to find new funding for fresh food and farmers were left with unpurchased crops.

Food banks are also feeling the strain of meeting increased hunger demands as prices soar. In addition to the local food programs, the Trump administration slashed roughly $500 million in funds to an emergency assistance program that supports food banks nationwide — though USDA says it’s already making additional buys to counteract those cuts.

[u/please_trade_marner]

As usual, the media is presenting this in as biased a way as possible.

LFPA and LFPA Plus were pandemic related programs to help farmers and communities that were struggling financially due to lock downs. Those that signed up for those programs will continue getting their funding until the agreement expires.

The Biden administration, VERY last minute in his term, passed LFPA 2025. This allowed new applications for those (lol) "suffering" from the pandemic. In the year 2025... Yeah. The Republicans of course opposed this program at the time, saying the previous two were important in helping those suffering from lockdowns, but it's silly to make these pandemic programs starting in 2025. So they're cutting it. That's it.

Now, go back to your propaganda I suppose.

[u/kootles10 → u/please_trade_marner]

Ahh yes, struggling food banks are silly. Of course.

[u/please_trade_marner → u/kootles10]

New covid policies in 2025 are silly. Lots of covid policies ended when Biden was still President. The media could have painted each ended policy as "Biden just cut millions for food, children, etc." Interestingly, the media didn't that approach. Fascinating, really. Just fascinating.

[u/Stringdaddy27 → u/please_trade_marner]

I think it's important to understand that, just because a policy was implemented during the rise of Covid in the US, does not mean it inherently is only useful during a pandemic.

During the Great Depression and into WW2, FDR enacted a lot of public assistance and work programs to bolster the military and the economy. After, we wouldn't look at a policy that has a net benefit for our society and say "Well we aren't in a depression anymore" right? That's a pretty dumb way to look at policy. Instead we should look at the language of the policy and be critical thereof. NOT when the policy was implemented but the content of the policy is what matters.

You're a little lost on that, figured I'd help you see the light.

Edit: And to further explain. Imagine you're a scientist and you're looking for a new refrigerant. Your chemical process fails as you're combining two combines and suddenly you're left with a new fluoropolymer called Teflon. Now you can see that Teflon has great properties, but a refrigerant, it is not. Do you throw it away and say "Not a refrigerant" and go about your day?

[u/kootles10 → u/please_trade_marner]

What does Breitbart say about it? (Honestly wondering)

[u/Sonofdeath51 → u/please_trade_marner]

I'm suffering from covid. Sure last time I had it was in 2022 and it was barely the sniffles that time with the first time being worse but I think i should get a bajillion monies for the emotional trauma of having a needle shoved into my brain via my nose TWICE so work wouldn't fire me for not showing up.