Joe Biden’s presidency is on the ropes. His approval ratings are plummeting.
And this latest lie could ultimately destroy the Biden administration.
Budgetary conflicts in Washington, D.C. are nothing new.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been arguing for centuries on how to properly balance a federal budget.
But now, Joe Biden’s administration has given lawmakers a new challenge to work through.
According to the Biden Department of Agriculture (USDA), half of the federal firefighters who work to extinguish wildfires across the country, could quit due to the federal government not having the funds to pay them by September 30.
“The temporary pay increases for firefighters authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will continue through the end of the fiscal year,” USDA deputy chief for state and private forestry, Jaelith Hall-Rivera said.
“We are doing everything we can to inform and educate members of Congress on the potential consequences of the pay cliff.”
There’s one problem to Hall-Rivera and the USDA’s thinking, however.
It turns out the federal government has allocated them with enough funds to avoid a pay cliff and to pay firefighters past the September 30 deadline.
According to Fox News, “The most recent data shows, as of last week, roughly $109 million remains in the Forest Service’s wildfire risk reduction account established by the 2021 infrastructure law. That funding would allow the agency to pay firefighters for a least an additional month past its emergency ‘pay cliff’ deadline of Sept. 30.”
The USDA also has $55 million in mental health services and backpay.
But a spokesman for the USDA said that those funds shouldn’t be used to cover the wages of the firefighters.
An aide to a Republican legislator who’s working to find a solution for the firefighters’ pay, said that the USDA is not being transparent with them on the issue.
“USDA has continually failed to answer congress’ questions related to this funding and have failed to communicate clearly with the brave men and women on the front lines of these fires,” the aide said to Fox News Digital.
“Interestingly, while USDA claims the outstanding funds are to be spent on mental health programs and human resource cases, when asked for details, documents received from USDA revealed no programs existed and the meta data revealed the documents were created just hours before submission to Congress. It doesn’t seem like USDA is taking this crisis or addressing the root cause seriously.”
It’s obvious that something is fishy with Biden’s USDA.
Either they are grossly mistaken about where their funds are being allocated, or they’re straight-up lying so they can receive more money.
Regardless, the USDA’s mishandling of this situation is yet another toll on Joe Biden’s administration.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
