So I don't talk about my work much, but we have an election coming up and working in government I am more directly impacted by changes in administration than most. The Democrats are not very good at touting their accomplishments, but that doesn't mean they don't have them, and these past 2 years have been a bit of a whirlwind for our office. For those that don't know I provide geographic analysis for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For a long time most of what our office did was collect data and report on the conditions of our agricultural lands. During the Bush years, reports on environmentally sensitive topics were suppressed, but we kept collecting data and Obama let us report again. I also did some work directly for Biden, mostly documenting where recovery funds were going, and it was nice having an administration that cared what we did. Trump for good or ill didn't know that USDA existed so we never got new instructions during his years and we just kept going on autopilot. My immediate boss recognized that our data could be used for a lot more that it was, rather than just reporting it could actively identify where funding was most need looking forward, so we started laying the groundwork for that, but didn't know if it would ever be used.
When Biden got elected it was like flipping a light switch, not only did the administration know we existed, but it had very definite ideas of what the agency should be doing and was very very interested in that data and modelling work we were doing to help target agency activity. Then two years again the Inflation Reduction Act was passed and the flood gates opened - I won't summarize everything in this bill, Wikipedia does a decent job of that and I'll drop a link, but it is an absolutely massive investment in rural America and my job has been dominated by it since. It authorized a ton of new spending and the agency turned to us to help direct the agricultural portion of it.
So where is that being directed? To farmers and ranchers that have been historically underserved by the agency, whether because they are minorities, or small farms rather than big corporate ones, or are new to farming, or veterans, or urban farms. For all farms the type of work being funded is landowners putting practices on their land and crops that make it more drought resistant, wildfire resistant, mitigate climate change, prevent fertilizer and pesticides from going into streams or leaching into ground water, and just in general make agriculture more sustainable - all with an eye to where the funds can be used most efficiently to target the most vulnerable lands.
That money is primarily coming from corporate taxes and if DJT is elected I do not think we will be overlooked again thanks to Project 2025. This work will all be shelved so that he can shovel more money to his billionaire friends instead, and what's especially sad is that the bulk of this spending is going to red voting parts of the country that are generally neglected. Unlike DJT, the Biden administration really does try and serve the whole country and doesn't seek to punish the parts that vote against him.
I know I'm mostly preaching to the choir here. There are lots of reasons for vote against DJT, I mean he's a crook and doesn't give a shit about anyone other than himself, and maybe you'd like the country to stay a democracy. But I'd also like you to have a reason to vote for Biden, especially after that abysmal debate performance. I don't always agree with Biden, but I do believe he has the best interests of the country at heart and surrounds himself with pretty smart people - and as a lowly peon member of his administration I think we're doing good work and I hope you'll let us keep doing it.
More on the Inflation Reduction Act:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_ActThis post partly inspired by one about the Act's impacts:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/why-is-quiet-new-106917389![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
