When former President Joe Biden announced plans to forgive student loans for millions of Americans, Republican leaders wasted no time blasting the move.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called it “student loan socialism” and a “raw deal” for working families.
“They want working Americans to take on $430 billion in debt they didn’t sign up for… just to pad the pockets of Washington Democrats’ base,” he said.
But now, almost two years later, the White House confirmed it is considering another round of relief — this time for farmers struggling under the weight of Trump-era tariffs and program cuts.
Farmers Reeling From Tariffs and Cuts
Across the country, small and medium-sized farmers are sounding the alarm. Years of extreme weather, rising costs, and falling prices have already left many operations hanging by a thread.
Now, a sweeping trade war launched by President Donald Trump, coupled with deep cuts to key agricultural and climate programs, is making things worse.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty around, and I hate to be used as a bargaining chip,” said Travis Johnson, a Texas farmer who lost over 1,000 acres of cotton, corn, and sorghum after floods devastated the Rio Grande Valley last month.
Under Trump’s trade policy, all U.S. farm exports to China face a 125% tariff, pricing many American farmers out of one of their largest markets.
Johnson said the market chaos comes after two years of “absolute disaster with falling prices and weather patterns.”
The White House acknowledged the pressure. “Relief is being considered,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters yesterday.
“The Secretary of Agriculture, I know, has spoken to the president about that.”
A Bailout For One, But Not the Other
The contrast between the backlash over student loan forgiveness and the bipartisan quiet around another potential farm bailout is hard to miss.
McConnell warned that forgiving student debt would unfairly burden Americans who chose not to borrow for college.
“Millions of other Americans choose not to take on debt and make sacrifices to avoid it,” he said. “The Biden Administration wants to take that basic choice away.”
But the same principle isn’t being applied to farmers receiving taxpayer aid for losses caused directly by Trump’s policies.
His previous trade war led to a $23 billion bailout in 2018-19. Now, history may repeat itself.
Ben Lilliston of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy said the situation is a “shock to the system” and warned that many farms could go under without direct help.
But he also noted that the chaos stems from policy choices: “Tariffs are not magical. They need to be used strategically as part of wider reforms.”
Programs Axed, Then Bailouts Offered
Critics point out the irony of slashing programs designed to help farms become more resilient — then proposing bailouts once they collapse.
The Trump administration has dismantled numerous USDA programs that supported school food purchases, conservation practices, and climate-smart agriculture.
Funding for two Biden-era programs worth $1 billion to local farmers was recently frozen, though contracts were later honored after backlash.
“It makes no sense taking billions of dollars off the table for programs that improve long-term farm viability and resilience, and then spend billions bringing back farmers from financial collapse,” said Jesse Womack from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Meanwhile, layoffs and buyouts have hit USDA offices hard, making it more difficult for farmers to access the very aid being proposed.
Double Standard?
The bigger question for many: Why is government help for student borrowers branded as socialism, but taxpayer-funded farm bailouts are simply business as usual?
As economist Betty Resnick wrote for the Farm Bureau, “Without direct support from USDA or a farm bill with an updated safety net, farmers will almost certainly bear the brunt of these tariffs.”
Yet that direct support is essentially what student loan borrowers were asking for, too.
“We were already in a precarious situation,” said Arkansas farmer Adam Chappell, who called the tariffs “salt on the wound.”
He warned that unless a bailout arrives before harvest, “a critical mass of farmers could go out of business.”
The Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, now tied up in the courts, aimed to relieve up to $430 billion in debt.
Trump’s trade war may soon require similar, if not greater, sums to keep America’s farms afloat. The question remains: Who gets to benefit from taxpayer help without being shamed for it?