Drew Hawkins
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
James Davis, a row crop farmer in North Louisiana, says tariffs have made it hard for farmers to export their commodities, making it harder to pay their bills, including health insurance.
He and his wife are able to pay for their health insurance because of enhanced premium tax credits through the Affordable Care Act.
After a Democratic proposal to extend those subsidies failed last week, they're set to expire at the end of the month.
For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in New Orleans.
Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.
James Davis, a row crop farmer in North Louisiana, says tariffs have made it hard for farmers to export their commodities, making it harder to pay their bills, including health insurance.
He and his wife are able to pay for their health insurance because of enhanced premium tax credits through the Affordable Care Act.
After a Democratic proposal to extend those subsidies failed last week, they're set to expire at the end of the month.
For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in New Orleans.
Davis said that the Trump administration's tariff relief plan is really crucial.
And Davis says that without what the president did, which he described as a bailout, many farmers are going to go belly up, is how he put it.
They won't be able to continue farming, and that includes himself.
The people I talk to, what they want is they want Congress to stop playing politics, is how they put it.
Speaker Johnson's district is very rural, lots of poverty, and a lot of people will be impacted if these subsidies go away without some sort of plan.
And I think maybe the best way I can sum it up is a conversation I had with Suzy Halle this past weekend.
And she runs a food bank in a place called Farmerville in Union Parish, which is in-house Speaker Mike Johnson's district.
And I asked her if she had a message for Speaker Johnson.