(KNSI) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week suspended past due debt collections and foreclosures for distressed borrowers under the Farm Storage Facility Loan and the Direct Farm Loan programs administered by the Farm Service Agency.
The USDA will temporarily suspend non-judicial foreclosures, debt offsets, or wage garnishments and referring foreclosures to the Department of Justice. USDA will work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to stop judicial foreclosures and evictions on accounts previously referred to the Department of Justice.
Minnesota’s Seventh District Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach, who sits on Ag Committee, says the move is a welcome short-term fix, but more needs to be done.
“Instead of doing this within the administration, the USDA and President Biden should be working with Congress to look at long-term, permanent solutions. Real solutions that will really help get people back on their feet and deal with some of these challenges.”
Solutions, she says, would include reinstating the payments from the last COVID-19 relief bill.
“There was a COVID relief bill right at the end of last year, and he suspended those direct payments, and so I’d like to get those going again. We’ve been hearing from constituents who are very concerned about making sure they’re able to get those direct payments.”
Fischbach says she was surprised the payments stopped because the money included relief for the depopulated hog issue.
She says expanding trade markets, eliminating government overreach so farmers can succeed and move forward in their industry, and creating an ag workforce by supporting strong rural communities will also help the ag industry long term.
The suspension will go as long as the COVID-19 disaster declaration is in place.
Fischbach says with vaccinations being distributed and the more people who get vaccinated, the sooner restaurants, schools, and the economy can open back up, which she says will really help farmers.
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