Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) questioned U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack at an oversight hearing held by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry on Thursday.
She expressed her concerns that the taxpayer money is being spent in the wrong places. “What I find problematic is that taxpayer dollars are being doled out as free grants to billionaires while applications from farmers on start-ups … are deemed unworthy of these programmes,” she said.