Legislative Watch: Biden proposes $6 Trillion budget; USDA budget would increase broadband, research and nutrition funding.
House Agriculture chairman David Scott, D-Ga., is raising objections with the administration s proposal to eliminate stepped-up basis, saying it cannot be borne by the next generation of farmers taking over the land.
Scott wrote in a letter to President Biden, Any increase in inheritance tax for those taking over farm land is untenable and will further strain a farm economy that is just now beginning to recover from the strain of the pandemic.”
He continued: In particular, step-up in basis is a critical tool enabling family farming operations to continue from generation to generation. The potential for capital gains to be imposed on heirs at death of the landowner would impose a significant financial burden on these operations. Additionally, my understanding of the exemptions is that they would just delay the tax liability for those continuing t
WIC participants to see increased Cash Value Benefit this summer
Current Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program participants in Alamance County will see an increase in their monthly Cash Value Benefit from June through September thanks to allocations from the American Rescue Plan.
More than 4,000 Alamance County residents currently participate in the WIC program, which provides supplemental nutrition, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and community healthcare referrals for pregnant women, new mothers and children up to 5 years old.
The Alamance County Health Department, which oversees the county’s WIC program, issued a press release last week noting the changes. According to the department, the monthly Cash Value Benefit will increase to $35 for women and children.
Researchers at UB say in addition to regular issues shoppers face, moms who shop using WIC benefits often have difficulty finding eligible products and deal with a lengthy checkout process.
But the program’s volunteers said the need for such a program remains.
“Hundreds of people we’re in contact with haven’t rebounded from COVID,” Nelly Medina, a community organizer with the Parents Union of Massachusetts, said in an interview this week. PUMA helps coordinate the food distribution with Rock of Salvation Church, the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation, and others.
“It’s a dire situation, Medina continued. And they are going to be the hardest hit by the loss of food.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program was enacted as part of the April 2020 Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and partnered with food distributors and nonprofits to buy and distribute $3 billion worth of food to the most vulnerable.