Government shutdown impact on Department of Agriculture's Market Facilitation Program
| Submitted | Jan. 10, 2019 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Gina Heeb
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Data on the number of of Market Facilitation Program farmer aid checks withheld during the government shutdown, from Dec. 22, 2018-Jan. 10, 2019. This includes the number of farmers approved for the program who went without the aid checks during this period, the average dollar amount of each missed check, and the total amount of funds withheld. Additionally, the number of applications received — online, in the mail, via fax or by any other means — during the aforementioned time period.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Gina Heeb
From: U.S. Department Of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary
Ms. Heeb, ExternalAffairs Division (EAD) received your Freedom of Information Act request dated January10, 2019 and assigned it control number: 2019-FPAC-BC-01876-F. Please usethis control number in all future communications involving this request. Due to therecent lapse in Federal funding, acknowledgement and processing of your FOIArequest has been delayed until now. We appreciate your patience You haverequested “data on the number of of Market Facilitation Program farmer aidchecks withheld during the government shutdown, from Dec. 22, 2018-Jan. 10,2019. This includes the number of farmers approved for the program who wentwithout the aid checks during this period, the average dollar amount of eachmissed check, and the total amount of funds withheld. Additionally, the numberof applications received — online, in the mail, via fax or by any other means —during the aforementioned time period.” Your requestis being handled under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA),5 U.S.C. § 552 ( http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/amended-foia-redlined.pdf ). We processrequests on a first-in, first-out basis. The actual processing time willdepend upon the complexity of the request and whether or not it involvessensitive or voluminous records, or extensive searches and/orconsultations. We also process requests on a multi-track basis. This means that simple requests, requiring minimal effort to respond, areprocessed in one track, and more voluminous and complex requests are processedin another track. We have placed your request in the Complex track. Request 2019-FPAC-BC-01876-F is perfected and has been moved from pending into the Complexprocessing track. This request has been placed in the “Media” RequestCategory and all fees will be waived The estimateddate upon which we expect to provide you the requested records is on or before:March 6, 2019. If you havequestions concerning this request, please contact Government Information (GI)Specialist Christina Vander Linden at 816-823-2669. In the event that GISpecialist Christina Vander Linden is unavailable, please contact GI SpecialistRachel Gray at 646-289-5650. We can alsobe reached at the group e-mail address FSA.FOIAOffice@kcc.usda.gov Sincerely, PatrickMcLoughlin FOIAOfficer FarmProduction and Conservation
From: U.S. Department Of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary
Ms. Heeb,
Before we can continue processing your request, we need some clarification. Are you requesting the number of producers with approved MFP applications pending payment (no payments were withheld), the average dollar amount of approved MFP applications pending payment and the total amount of approved MFP applications pending payment?
We cannot proceed further with your request until we receive additional written clarification from you. Please note that if we do not hear from you within 20 workdays from the date of this email, we will assume that you are no longer interested in pursuing your request and we will close our files on the request.
If you have questions concerning this request, please contact Government Information (GI) Specialist Christina Vander Linden at 816-823-2669. In the event that GI Specialist Christina Vander Linden is unavailable, please contact GI Specialist Rachel Gray at 646-289-5650. We can also be reached at the group e-mail address FSA.FOIAOffice@kcc.usda.gov.
Sincerely,
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Patrick McLoughlin
FOIA Officer
Farm Production and Conservation
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From: Gina Heeb
Hi Patrick,
If no payments were withheld, you can remove that from my request. I am still requesting the number of MFP applications that were pending between Dec. 22, 2018 and Jan. 16, 2019 and hadn't yet been approved. Additionally, I am requesting the number of applications for MFP (sent online, in the mail, by fax or through the authenticated farmers.gov portal) that were received during that period. Please let me know if you need further clarification, and I would be happy to provide it.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Gina Heeb
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 10, 2019. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: U.S. Department Of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary
Ms. Heeb,
This responds to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated January 10, 2019 and assigned control number 2019-FPAC-BC-01876-F.
In response to your request, we located and are releasing, in full, the number of MFP applications between December 22, 2018 and January 16, 2019 sent online, in the mail, by fax or through the authenticated farmers.gov portal.
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Request 2019-FPAC-BC-01876-F is officially closed.
If you have questions concerning this request, please contact Government Information (GI) Specialist Christina Vander Linden at 816-823-2669. In the event that GI Specialist Christina Vander Linden is unavailable, please contact GI Specialist Rachel Gray at 646-289-5650. We can also be reached at the group e-mail address FSA.FOIAOffice@kcc.usda.gov<mailto:FSA.FOIAOffice@kcc.usda.gov>.
Sincerely,
[signature (002)]
Patrick McLoughlin
FOIA Officer
Farm Production and Conservation
