Chart of the Day: Trump’s Massive Farm Bailouts

Direct aid to farmers has jumped under President Trump, from $11.5 billion in 2017 to an all-time high of $32 billion and counting this year, as the administration seeks to ease the pain of its tariff wars and the coronavirus pandemic. “But as agriculture grows more reliant on unprecedented taxpayer support, farm policy experts and watchdog groups warn the subsidies are growing too big and too fast, with no strings attached and little oversight from Congress — and that Washington could have a difficult time shutting off the spigot,” Politico agriculture reporter Ryan McCrimmon writes.

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