Former Biden staffers deny whistleblower claims the administration secretly discriminated against white farmers

Former USDA leaders deny a whistleblower’s claim that the Biden administration secretly discriminated against white farmers when it came to loan forgiveness. 

A USDA employee told NewsNation that the agency, while under Biden, radically profiled farmers and only forgave loans of minority borrower. 

‘It was to pay off anyone who wasn’t a white male’s loan,’ the whistleblower said. ‘That was the only qualification for this loan forgiveness.

‘They were trying to keep this hushed because of the obvious implications of race-based loan forgiveness.’ 

The provision was held under the American Rescue Plan Act, which allowed the government to pay up to 120 percent of the outstanding debt of ‘each socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher,’ NewsNation found.

Socially disadvantaged farmers were defined as various minorities. The policy was later deemed unconstitutional and replaced by a new law, Inflation Reduction Act.

Previously eligible minority farmers were then emailed about obtained loan forgiveness under the new legislation. However, white farmers who were not eligible under the old act did not receive the same communication.

Scott Marlow, who worked for the USDA under Biden, told DailyMail.com: ‘There wasn’t anything buried in the American Rescue Plan Act.’ 

Marlow, who lead on the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act Section 22006, called the current USDA and whistleblower claims ‘absurd’ and ‘inflated.’ 

Reports show that 68 percent of self-identified white farmers received aid under the Inflation Reduction Act Section 22006.  

The American Rescue Plan Act, which came before Marlow’s tenure, was approved by federal government and the USDA followed it ‘by the instruction of Congress,’ before it was struck down, Marlow said. 

After the program was ruled unconstitutional, the Biden Administration sent an email to minority farmers about the Inflation Reduction Act. 

The whistleblower said white farmers were not sent this email, which provided $3.1billion of relief. 

‘It wasn’t about hardship,’ white farmer, James Dunlap, of Baker City, Oregon, told NewsNation about the loan forgiveness. ‘It wasn’t about financial situations. It was about that box you checked under ethnicity line under your application.’ 

Dunlap works two additional jobs to keep his farm afloat, he told NewsNation, yet he claimed he still didn’t qualify for the loan forgiveness under the first act. 

The Oregon farmer was one of the many who sued the Biden Administration over the American Rescue Plan Act, claiming that it was race-based and violated the Constitution. 

A federal judge ruled the white farmers had been constitutionally harmed in ways that ‘cannot be undone.’ 

Following the decision, the Biden Administration still sent the Inflation Reduction Act email to inform them that they would no longer be receiving the money under the initial act, but could still receive it under the new act. 

The January 10, 2023, letter shared ‘information about new payments and/or loan modifications that may assist you,’ NewsNation, which obtained a copy of the letter, reported. 

The whistleblower said the letter was only sent to those who qualified as a ‘socially disadvantaged farmer’ under the American Rescue Plan Act. 

‘You are receiving this letter because you were previously informed of your potential eligibility as a Farm Loan Programs borrower for a payment under Section 1005 of the American Rescue Plan Act’ the letter read, according to NewsNation. 

The letter informed farmers that the USDA could not grant loan forgiveness to them anymore, but the Inflation Reduction Act could.  

The whistleblower also alleged the USDA workers were instructed to tell some minority farmers to stop paying, so the loans would be forgiven, which Marlow adamantly denied.

Those that fell under the disadvantaged category was based on decades of research and approved by Congress. 

White farmers, Marlow said, were always allowed to go to their local USDA office to apply for loan relief. He added that 68% of the recipients of 22006 assistance self identified as either White or White and Other Races.

He also said there would have been no way for USDA to exclude white farmers from an mailing list. 

‘There’s no way to do that, there’s not a physical way to do that,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘All of those [programs] were implemented in a race neutral way.’ 

In a statement to NewsNation, a current USDA spokesperson did not address the specifics of the program, but slammed the Biden Administration for leaving the agency in ‘complete disarray and dysfunction’.

‘And that’s why farmers were being left behind,’ the spokesperson said. ‘The entire farm economy has been hurt by Biden’s inaction. 

‘It is absurd that while the Biden Administration was driving up inflation, American taxpayers were forced to fund billions in woke DEI initiatives. 

‘No one should be shocked that Biden weaponized bipartisan farm programs to discriminate and provide taxpayer dollars to one group based on race and not on merit.

‘Instead, USDA is reprioritizing unity, equality, meritocracy, and color-blind policies,’ the statement continued. 

The spokesman added that the new Secretary of Agriculture under the Trump Administration Brooke Rollins is reviewing the situation.

‘Secretary Rollins directed USDA to review Inflation Reduction Act funding to ensure that it honors the sacred obligation to American taxpayers – and to ensure that programs are focused on supporting farmers and ranchers, not DEI programs or far-left climate programs,’ he said.

‘Unlike the Biden Administration, under Trump, USDA does not discriminate and single out individual farmers based on race, sex, or political orientation.’ 

Biden’s Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, told DailyMail.com that the ‘loan servicing done while I was in office would reflect those farmers and ranchers in financial distress that could be helped were helped’.

‘Our guiding principle was doing everything we could to help farmers and ranchers in financial stress stay on the farm,’ he said. 

Marlow agreed, telling DailyMail.com: ‘Absolutely no demographic analysis was done of potential forms of assistance or recipients of individual trenches of assistance until after the last of the assistance was determined and announced.’ 

After a judge ruled it unconstitutional, Congress updated it, Marlow told DailyMail.com. 

‘In our administration, we actually abided by judges’ [rulings] as required by law,’ Marlow said. ‘Whether we liked it or not.’   

Demographic information for the Inflation Reduction Act was not gathered until after all the money was collected, Marlow said. 

He also said that they developed a plan for the rest of the money allocated under the act to be processed two weeks after their departure when Trump took office, yet the current administration hasn’t paid out farmers. 

‘I am confused that the current administration has not provided the remaining assistance as determined back in January. When the previous administration ended, there were approximately 2,400 farmers set to receive between $110M and $120M in assistance and, as of a few days ago, they still have not been paid,’ he said.