YOUNG FARMERS WORRY ABOUT ACCESS TO USDA AID: Some young and beginning farmers feel excluded from the Agriculture Department's coronavirus assistance efforts, hamstrung by a complicated application process that does not accommodate small, diversified producers, reports our Ximena Bustillo. Groups representing this demographic warn that an entire generation of farmers could go bankrupt this year, especially after their request for a portion of funds to be set aside for young and beginning producers has not been granted. The Agriculture Department predicts that it will receive 1.6 million applications for the Coronavirus Financial Assistance Program. The application period opened Monday and will run through August. A USDA spokesperson said that a lack of experience with the department should not be a deterrent to applying, and the program is open to all types of producers and farms. All in the math: Some producers argue the calculation used to determine direct payments is bound to mainly benefit large growers and shuts out many young and beginning farmers with direct sales or CSA business models. Those sales may mean they're unable to adequately represent their loss, including increases in out-of-pocket costs, to receive enough federal money. The payments are also on a per-crop basis, complicating how diversified farmers could tally losses. HOUSE DEMOCRATS GO AFTER OSHA'S RESPONSE TO PANDEMIC: House Democrats on Thursday attacked the nation's worker safety watchdog for failing to protect workers from the coronavirus. Rep. Alma Adams, chairwoman of the House Education and Labor subcommittee on workforce protections, said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been "invisible" during the pandemic, reports the Washington Post. During the hearing, a top OSHA official dodged questions about the coronavirus risk posed to meatpacking workers and employees in other essential sectors. OSHA's tally: Loren Sweatt, principal deputy assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, said that the agency has focused on the meatpacking industry and currently has more than 58 active complaints or inspections, POLITICO's Rebecca Rainey tells MA. Sweatt also added that the agency has "daily phone calls" with the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service, which has employees on-site at every plant. But Sweatt declined to answer questions about why the agency hasn't issued emergency protections specific to the virus. She also added that the agency has six months to complete the inspections. 'A' IS FOR… NOT AGRICULTURE: The Lugar Center has an ongoing index of each congressional committee's "devotion to oversight," based on the number of relevant hearings conducted by nearly every House and Senate panel during the current Congress. The latest results? The House Agriculture Committee got a "D," the third-worst grade out of 17 committees in the chamber that were measured (panels like House Rules and Intelligence aren't included). Senate Ag eked out a "C-" — which was in the top half of all Senate panels. By the numbers: Under Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), one of the chamber's most conservative Democrats, House Ag has held 36 hearings during the 116th Congress, according to the Lugar Center, but none were considered "investigative oversight" hearings by the organization. The Senate panel held 13 total hearings, but no such oversight meetings. (Still, both committees so far have raised their grades from the previous Congress.) To be sure, the Ag committees have held hearings with Trump administration officials to examine implementation of the 2018 farm bill, economic damage from Trump's trade war with China and other issues. You can check out the center's methodology here. Spokespersons for each panel declined to comment. | 
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