Farm ‘Bailout': Good Money After Bad?

Financial aid, of a sort, is coming to farmers caught in the trade war crossfire.The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the White House has announced plans to offer $12 billion in aid to farmers and ranchers hurt by the administration's policies.

Officials say they hope the aid - which some are calling a bailout - will quell the grievances of many in the agriculture community as the mid-term election approaches.

White House personnel say the aid should start coming in around September.

Still, critics of the administration - many of them conservative republicans - call the aid pointless, saying the trade war is harmful and unnecessary.

Among the most vocal critics has been Kentucky Senator Rand Paul: "If tariffs punish farmers, the answer is not welfare for farmers. The answer is remove the tariffs."

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska also spoke out: ""The trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers and White House's 'plan' is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches. America's farmers don't want to be paid to lose - they want to win by feeding the world."

The package not not need Congressional approval to go forward.

[Source: Washington Post]