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Over the past few years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set a terrible precedent by greatly expanding its use of the Agriculture Secretary’s discretionary spending authority under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act.REF Congress has only exacerbated the problem by passing appropriations language that arguably suggests an after-the-fact blessing of these actions.REF
The Agriculture Secretary has far too much discretion under the Charter Act, but up until recently, this discretionary power has generally not been abused. Over the past few years, this has changed. The spending under the Charter Act has vastly expanded in terms of amount, as well as in scope, providing assistance beyond simply helping farmers, while undermining congressional primacy in crafting federal agricultural policy. This