Page 1 GAO-24-107345 Emergency Relief Program 2022
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September 10, 2024
The Honorable Tom Vilsack
Secretary of Agriculture
Emergency Relief Program 2022: FSA Should Publicly Report Progress in Issuing
Payments
Dear Mr. Secretary:
The Emergency Relief Program 2022 (ERP 2022) is administered by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to help agricultural producers who
experienced crop or other losses caused by natural disasters in calendar year 2022. Congress
provided $3.7 billion for ERP 2022. We were asked to examine how USDA developed ERP
2022, how the payment methodology used affects payments to producers, and actions USDA
has taken to ensure producers meet program requirements.
We requested information from FSA in March 2024, including data on ERP 2022 payments and
other documents. In June 2024, FSA officials cited a March 2024 lawsuit and a June 2024
court-ordered injunction as reasons for suspending their participation in our audit. The order
prohibits FSA from making or increasing payments based on socially disadvantaged status
when calculating ERP 2022 payments, among other things. FSA has not provided the
information we requested in March 2024 or allowed officials to meet with us since our initial
meeting with the agency in March 2024. However, we are encouraged by our July 2024
conversation with your office about providing us with the information we need to conduct our
work.
We are sending this management letter to identify a transparency issue FSA should address
regarding the status of ERP 2022 payments and to make a related recommendation. We will
continue our broader review of ERP 2022 when FSA provides the information we requested,
and we plan to issue a final report in the future.
We conducted this performance audit from January 2024 to September 2024 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and
perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained
provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
