Sound Transit, Washington farmers to get crucial federal relief money
May 20, 2020, 7:22 AM | Updated: 10:22 am
A light rail car on display. (Atomic Taco, Flickr Creative Commons)
The Trump Administration spent a lot of Tuesday handing out money to struggling public and private businesses. Sound Transit and our state potato growers were among the groups being thrown a lifeline.
Washington cherry harvest in coronavirus crosshairs
Sound Transit is expecting to lose more than $628 million over the next year as a direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Trump Administration has given Sound Transit more than $166 million out of the CARES Act. The administration is giving $25 billion to transit agencies around the country to help them stay afloat.
The President tweeted this week that the money will “help keep the transit system open & operational, helping get people to work or make necessary trips. These funds help replace lost fare revenue, very important!”
Sound Transit thanked the President, also via Twitter, saying that “these funds will be used right away to reduce impacts to critical services.”
Our thanks to the Washington delegation and Congressional leaders for the CARES Act and to you, Mr. President, @SecElaineChao, and the outstanding team at @FTA_DOT for processing our grant so quickly. These funds will be used right away to reduce impacts to critical services. https://t.co/GYwFea23np
— Sound Transit #StayHomeStaySafe – 🚆 🚈 🚍 (@SoundTransit) May 19, 2020
President Trump also dedicated $16 billion to farmers and ranchers impacted by the pandemic. The payments are limited to $250,000 dollars per farm, which might sound like a lot, but for a farm that will barely keep the lights on, “you’re not even keeping them whole,” National Potato Council CEO Cam Quarles said.
“You’re trying to keep them solvent,” he continued. “You’re trying to give them options so that they can live to fight another day.”
Quarles told the Ag Information Network that it’s a great first step, but his growers, including about 250 farms in Washington, will need a lot more to survive this downturn.
Sound Transit shutters bulk of projects over COVID-19 concerns
“We’re going to need substantially more resources, both for direct payments for growers as well as surplus commodity buys, to get this product, which is all clogged up in the pipeline, out so supply and demand can start to balance,” he said.
Two weeks ago, the USDA pledged to buy $50 million in surplus potatoes. Quarles said the need is six times that just to clear the surplus. He is now estimating there is an oversupply of one-and-a-half billion pounds of potatoes.
Quarles is recommending Washington farmers sign up for this initial program as soon as possible to get in line for their payments.
