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Senate Democrats Press USDA Over Data Errors · GNN Daily Breaking News

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  Speaker 1: Senate Democrats are demanding answers from the US Department of
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  Speaker 1: Agriculture USDA after a series of high profiled data errors
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  Speaker 1: and staffing losses raised concerns about the integrity of federal
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  Speaker 1: agricultural reporting. The controversy erupted in July when USDA reported
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  Speaker 1: a nearly five hundred percent search in weekly BF export sales,
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  Speaker 1: only to revise the figure down by ninety percent days later.
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  Speaker 1: Officials blamed an isolated processing issue, but lawmakers say the
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  Speaker 1: mistake rattled markets and undermined confidence in trade data. In
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  Speaker 1: a letter sent on August nineteenth, twenty twenty six, six
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  Speaker 1: Democratic senators, led by Amy Klobashar, pressed USDA Deputy Under
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  Speaker 1: Secretary Michelle Beckering for explanations. They warned that inaccurate reporting
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  Speaker 1: could distort tariff enforcement, mislead farmers, and damage US credibility
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  Speaker 1: with trading partners. The senators also linked the errors to
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  Speaker 1: staffing reductions that began during Trump's restructuring of federal agencies.
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  Speaker 1: They argue that cuts to the National Agricultural Statistics Service
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  Speaker 1: have weakened the agency's ability to produce reliable reports. Past
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  Speaker 1: incidents reinforced their concerns In twenty twenty five, USDA delayed
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  Speaker 1: a report and omitted findings that tariffs contributed to a
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  Speaker 1: growing agricultural trade deficit. Earlier this year, unexpected revisions to
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  Speaker 1: corn acreage figures triggered an internal review. Market analysts say
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  Speaker 1: the beef export error was particularly troubling because it included
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  Speaker 1: sales to countries far larger than historical purchases. Traders doubted
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  Speaker 1: the numbers immediately, but the official report still influenced prices
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  Speaker 1: at a time when beef costs were already soaring and
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  Speaker 1: packers were shuttering plants amid the smallest US cattle herd
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  Speaker 1: in decades. For farmers and ranchers, the stakes are high.
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  Speaker 1: USDA data guide's planting decisions, export strategies, and investment planning
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  Speaker 1: errors risk distorting markets and leaving producers vulnerable to sudden swings.
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  Speaker 1: Lawmakers insist that restoring confidence in USDA reporting is essential
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  Speaker 1: to both domestic stability and international trade negotiations. The agency
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  Speaker 1: has promised to review its processes, but Senators say they
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  Speaker 1: will continue pressing for accountability. With food prices elevated and
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  Speaker 1: global trade tensions rising, the reliability of USDA data has
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  Speaker 1: become a matter of national economic security,