Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 4/7/20

The secretary on Monday offered a lengthy rebuttal of Democrats' complaints that the department's trade bailout has disproportionately boosted Southern states and wealthy farmers, while pledging to distribute the new stimulus payments in a "fair and equitable manner," your host reports.

"USDA's principle based objective process and the data do not support a program that favored one region over another," Perdue wrote in a letter to Senate Agriculture ranking member Debbie Stabenow, a vocal critic of the fairness of the trade aid program.
He pointed to the department's underlying calculations of tariff damage to specific commodity prices and exports, and the fact that the bulk of the money flowed to Midwestern states like Illinois and Iowa.

Why it matters: Democrats like Stabenow and watchdog groups that have been critical of the trade aid program are closely monitoring how USDA decides to implement more than $23 billion in new spending authority that Congress provided in the stimulus package with very few strings attached. As industry groups and their allies on Capitol Hill make their case to the department for a share of the funds, whatever method officials use to divvy up the money is likely to come under heavy scrutiny.