Democrats target farmers on Trump's DOGE cuts

• The Trump administration has called for deep spending reductions for international food programs run by the United States Agency for International Development and the Department of Agriculture.
• Those programs buy agricultural products from U.S. farmers to the tune of $2 billion a year, according to Shaheen.
• Some farm state Republicans have questioned administrationst officials about programs like Food for Peace.

Zoom out: Democrats are trying to broaden their case against the Trump administration's budget, which will receive its first official vote this week, when the House brings up Trump's rescissions package, which cuts funding for NPR, PBS and USAID.

• Out of power and in the minority, congressional Democrats have been holding shadow hearings to use experts to convey their message and offer counter programing to official committee proceedings, which allow Republicans to set the agenda.
• Republicans don't attend and think of them as political stunts

Zoom in: On Thursday, Shaheen, the ranking member on the foreign relations committee, and Klobuchar, the ranking member of the committee on agriculture, nutrition and forestry, will host a group of experts to detail the effect of the cuts to foreign aid on U.S. farmers.

• They include Kevin Shea, Former Director of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at the department of agricultural and Sarah Charles, the former assistant administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.