ICYMI: Ted Budd Says He’s An Ally to Farmers. His Record Is More Complicated. [Cardinal & Pine]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Cardinal & Pine: Ted Budd Says He’s An Ally to Farmers. His Record Is More Complicated.
Budd has made several votes against farmers’ interests, and his family was involved with AgriBioTech, a bankrupted company that cost farmers millions of dollars and left a tax debt in N.C.
By Michael McElroy
August 23, 2022

Key Points:

• Agriculture is one of the leading industries in North Carolina, with more than 52,000 farms across the state.

• The Budd family was involved with a now-bankrupt company that cost farmers across 39 states millions and left a substantial tax debt, including in N.C.

• In 2000, Budd’s father Richard was the chief executive of AgriBioTech, a global agriculture company that was on the verge of bankruptcy.

• Ted Budd… was one of 11 people who signed off on a $10 million loan from the Budd family to the company, the Post reported. He was also a shareholder in the company, according to the Post.

• In January, 2000, AgriBioTech filed for bankruptcy.

• The bankruptcy, coming a few months after the Budd family got its loan back in full, meant that some 1,200 farmers in 39 states did not get the money they were owed, the Post said, an amount exceeding $50 million.

• And according to court documents reviewed by Cardinal & Pine, AgriBioTech also owed $1.3 million in taxes, including $33,000 in North Carolina state taxes.

• A trustee for some of the farmers filed a federal lawsuit against the Budd family, the Post reported, naming Ted Budd specifically and accusing the family of fraudulent money transfers connected to the loan.

• Budd… also voted against several bills that would have helped farmers even more. The most recent legislation Budd voted against would not just help NC farmers, but protect them from catastrophe.

• The IRA, the news site Vox points out, includes $20 billion to help US farms offset their emissions. The money will help them be more resilient against the current threats from flooding, droughts and storms that will only get worse as warming accelerates.

• NC farms earned nearly $11 billion in 2020, and is the state’s leading industry, but damages associated with climate change could cost the state millions in the agriculture sector. A 2006 report estimated that agriculture profits could fall by nearly 25% in North Carolina.

• Budd voted against the bill.

• Nearly 30% of NC’s households lack access to a high-speed internet connection, and the bulk of these families live in rural areas.

• Budd has often said that expanding broadband is important for farming communities and rural areas in general, and several other pieces of federal legislation, passed by Congress and signed by President Biden, have started to deliver on that goal. Budd voted against them both.

• The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the American Rescue Plan (ARP), both signed into law in 2021, each included vast resources to expand internet access across the country. The IIJA alone provided North Carolina $1 billion to expand broadband in rural communities, and the state has already started awarding local grants to help do so.

• The infrastructure, stimulus and climate change bills have also improved the lives of lower income and middle income North Carolinians and helped them stay afloat in a pandemic-rattled economy.

• Budd voted against a major farm bill in 2018 that drew support from the vast majority of both parties. That vote came up frequently in the NC’s Republican primary this year, with both of Budd’s opponents criticizing him for it and calling him “no friend to farmers.”

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