AGRICULTURE/TARIFFS/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/USDA: “Thanks to the government shutdown, the Department of Agriculture will extend the deadline for farmers to apply for assistance to offset losses they were experiencing as a result of trade tensions between the US and other countries. Applications were due January 15, but the department’s Farm Service Agency, which operates the program, closed on December 28 after the agency ran out of funding because of the shutdown. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the application deadline will be extended ‘”for a period of time equal to the number of business days FSA offices were closed, once the government shutdown ends’ in a press release. The deadline is one more casualty of a partial government shutdown that has put numerous agency programs on hold and has left 800,000 federal employees working without pay or not working at all. The Market Facilitation Program allows farmers to apply for payments from the Agriculture Department in order to offset an estimated $11 billion impact of ‘illegal tariffs’ other countries have imposed on US agricultural exports.”
–Ellie Kaufman, “USDA extends deadline for program aimed at helping farmers amid trade tensions after shutdown puts it on hold,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, January 8, 2019 5:58 pm