President Donald Trump said Monday the Department of Agriculture will launch what he called a new “harvest fuel relief program” that will provide farmers with $8 billion in support to offset diesel costs during the harvest season. “Tonight, I’m also pleased to announce that the Department of Agriculture will be launching a new harvest fuel relief program, providing our farmers with $8 billion in support to offset diesel costs during this harvest season,” Trump said in a midterm election campaign speech in Kansas. The announcement was the latest in a series of financial promises and pledges that the Republican leader has made to voters heading into the November midterm elections, where control of Congress is at stake.
The Republican Party currently has a narrow majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Trump and the Republican Party have been scrambling to maintain support in farm states with competitive Senate races as costs have risen. Trump signed an executive order earlier this month that he said would expand access to tax-exempt diesel. The Department of Agriculture said after Trump’s speech on Monday that it would make $8 billion available “for one-time payments to American farmers this harvest season to provide relief during temporary market disruptions and increased input costs.”
