Klobuchar, Colleagues Raise Concerns About New USDA Farm Loan Process

WASHINGTON – Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, is pressing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for more information about reporting that certain farm loans and loan guarantees must be cleared through Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees.

“We write to express concern about a reported memorandum from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to require certain farm loans and loan guarantees to be cleared through Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees,” wrote the Senators.

“In addition to raising privacy questions, this change could create delays in FSA loans for qualified borrowers,” the Senators continued. “At a time when financial uncertainty is rising for America’s families and farmers, creating more red tape for customers who often have no other options for credit could prevent farmers from getting crops in the ground, animals fed, or cause a beginning farmer to miss out on the purchase of their first parcel of land.”

Along with Klobuchar, the letter was signed by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Angus King (I-ME), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).

The full letter is available here and below. 

Dear Secretary Rollins, 

We write to express concern about a reported memorandum from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to require certain farm loans and loan guarantees to be cleared through Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees. In addition to raising privacy questions, this change could create delays in FSA loans for qualified borrowers. At a time when financial uncertainty is rising for America’s families and farmers, creating more red tape for customers who often have no other options for credit could prevent farmers from getting crops in the ground, animals fed, or cause a beginning farmer to miss out on the purchase of their first parcel of land.  

The April 29, 2025 memo reportedly requires that farm loans and loan guarantees exceeding $500,000 as well as any loans or guarantees to “formal entities” such as an LLC must be “reviewed and cleared” not only by the USDA Chief Financial Officer (CFO) but also by DOGE employees. Because most farming operations are structured as some type of entity, this requirement could impact a large number of loans and loan guarantees. 

USDA’s Farm Service Agency has recently made improvements to farm loan program procedures to create more efficiency, cut red tape, and streamline application processes to ease the burden on farmers. The Agency has simplified the direct farm loan application to reduce paperwork from 29 pages to 13 pages and implemented a “fast track” expedited review process for farm loan applications. We are concerned this new review could undermine the improvements made by USDA to reduce delays for applicants. 

We request answers to the following questions by May 13^th, 2025. 

1.   Please provide a copy of the memo directing this new policy and any supporting guidance provided to USDA employees. 

2. What is the purpose and the legal basis of this new layer of review? 

3.  What role, if any, will artificial intelligence systems play in this review? 
1. If artificial intelligence systems are used for this review, what systems will be used, and what parameters or instructions will guide the process? 

4. Please provide a description of the guardrails that are in place to ensure that any information shared with and used by DOGE will protect the privacy of loan recipients.  

5. Please provide a detailed description of all specific farm loan categories the new review policy does or does not apply to.  

6.    What, if any, is the time limitation for the review? 

7. Was any analysis performed about the effect on the applicants of the potential delay or denials as a result of this new policy, and if so, what was the conclusion? 

8. The memorandum referenced an Executive Order covering “discretionary spending through Federal contracts, grants, loans, and related instruments” and was not specific to FSA farm loans.  

1. Are there similar new procedures in place or being planned for other assistance to agricultural producers either through FSA farm programs or other agencies? If so, what are those procedures? If not, what makes farm loans trigger this review and not the other assistance to the same set of entities? 

We look forward to working with you to ensure that our farmers and ranchers have access to the credit they need. 

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