This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
No more Mr. Openminded. Based on other instances of differential distribution among red and blue states involving medical supplies and Trump’s own comments about New York, San Francisco, etc., I’m going to assume the discrepancy is intentional, until I see hard evidence that it isn’t.
Another failed Trump attempt to use the private sector to provide a service that the government should undertake.
So trump has given up on NH and ME CD2?
The agency said the contracts were competitively evaluated based on the companies’ ability to deliver.
But some of the winning bids raised eyebrows because the companies appeared to lack experience in food distribution or did not have a proper USDA license. At the same time, some applicants with more traditional qualifications said their bids were denied on mistaken grounds.
“Ability to deliver” must mean something else in Trumpworld. Maybe ability to deliver money into the pocket of GOP supporters and the Trump family?
Trump and his daughter Ivanka have personallyheralded the USDA’s new program
One might as well stop reading the article right there. Along with Sonny Perdue, it is FUBAR.
I suppose this is not a surprise that the Donor (blue) states give, and the Taker (Red) states receive.
No surprise… they didn’t vote for him in BIG enough numbers.
Contract bids were granted based on the content of the bumper stickers affixed to the delivery trucks.
As a resident of Maine who works for a health care system, I can tell you two things based on my well-informed experience and observations:
“Oops” my shiny white Irish ass…this was deliberate and was used as part of his campaign.
I’m going to assume Vlad Tepes looks at this guy and says, “Dude, there’s such a thing as being too vindictive.”
Bringing the Mohammed Aidid food as weapon strategy to the 2020 election.
Are ANY of these people able to do their fkn HOMEWORK??? They are the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT responsible for ALL 50 STATES. This ‘oh oops’ garbage is wearing thin.
Yet another nail in the coffin of the “private industry always does better” trope.
Not that it matters to the true believers.
Maine shut out completely from another insider cash grab, but this time families go hungry, huh?
Well, ME-2 the Congressional district won by Trump is the more rural of Maine’s two districts can feel really good about their votes while worrying about their next meal! Bootstraps time, Mainers!
If Sara Gideon can’t capitalize on this fiasco to beat Susan Collins (Concerned-ME) for her Senate seat than I guess they are stuck with her, and just accept what they get…nothing!
“Ability to deliver” was not a factor. Per the USDA, “The amounts and locations awarded were based on the offers received and the evaluation of those offers,” a real life example of unregulated free market capitalism at its finest. As Reagan didn’t say, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from Wall Street, and I’m here to help.”
Wait, the script clearly says the “Ivanka” character is supposed to be the “kind”, “relatable” one to provide contrast to that over-the-top scene-chewing ham they have in the lead role.
Lets not let the Democrats off the hook here. This is NOT Trump’s program. This is Congress’s program, which the Agriculture Department is administering.
I’ve never heard of a federal assistance program that didn’t include a formula for distributing the assistance. The Democrats could have put in the House bill a formula based on state population, but they obviously didn’t do so. Instead, they apparently opted for - or agreed to - a distribution formula not based on relative state population, or on relative poverty, or on an increase in state unemployment rates.
Rather, it appears from this article that they agreed to or invented a formula based on the wholly subjective calculus of the quality of different distributors. If that is accurate, the Democrats committed political malpractice. Something they have done throughout this entire process.