A disabled white farmer has sued President Joe Biden’s administration over his COVID-19 loan forgiveness program, alleging he can’t participate because he is white.
Adam Faust, a white resident of Chilton, Calumet County in Wisconsin, is one of five Midwestern farmers who filed a lawsuit on April 6 that accuses the federal government of violating their constitutional rights, Fox 11 reported.
The other plaintiffs are farmers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Ohio who have direct loans with the Farm Service Agency or USDA-backed loans and are “otherwise eligible for the loan-forgiveness program in ARPA, except for the color of their skin,” according to the lawsuit.
Attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the suit on behalf of the white farmers in federal court in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
As per the lawsuit, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) provides $4 billion to forgive loans for “socially disadvantaged” farmers and ranchers.
The phrase “socially disadvantaged” includes explicit racial classifications, according to the lawsuit, which states that in order to be eligible for ARPA’s debt relief, farmers and ranchers must be black, Native American, Hispanic, Asian American, or a Pacific Islander.
It contends that other farmers—white farmers, for example—are ineligible.
“Were plaintiffs eligible for the loan forgiveness benefit, they would have the opportunity to make additional investments in their property, expand their farms, purchase equipment and supplies, and otherwise support their families and local communities,” the lawsuit states.
