Vance Faces Backlash: Black Farmers Urge Apology for Controversial Farm Benefit Comments

 The National Black Farmers Association is urging Republican Vice-Presidential candidate JD Vance to apologize for remarks suggesting that the Biden-Harris administration distributed farm benefits based on race.

Vance's comments appeared to reference payments made in July under Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act, which were intended for socially disadvantaged farmers who had faced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs as far back as the 1940s.

During his appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, August 11, Vance failed to mention that Section 22006 of the Act had already provided payments to all farmers experiencing financial stress shortly after it became law in August 2022. The Section 22007 payments, however, were only issued last month.

“Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (Section 22007) payments are historic in nature,” said John W. Boyd Jr., president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association. “I am proud to have led the fight for over 30 years, resulting in $2.2 billion in assistance for Black and other farmers of color. This financial assistance is long overdue for Black and any other farmers who were discriminated against by the USDA before 2021,” said Boyd, a fourth-generation farmer from Virginia. “This was not a farm benefit based on skin color given to Black farmers."

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