{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=1845C628-5D08-4749-9CFF-F771B54009F1", "Heitkamp Raises Transparency Concerns in USDA Grant Making Process", "2017-11-08", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "ND", "Heidi Heitkamp", "H001069", "www.heitkamp.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue raising transparency issues about its grant making process after concerns were raised by the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC).\u00a0\r\nNDAREC has received a USDA Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG) every year since 1994 to support its successful cooperative development center. Its application has consistently scored in the mid to high 90s, but this year it received a score of 79 by USDA\u2019s voluntary committee. While the scoring is subjective and likely to change from year to year, the drastic reduction this year led NDAREC to request an informal review and for the public release of an awardee list, as has been standard practice for many years. USDA has refused to release a list of the 2017 RCDG Award recipients.\r\n\u201cThe decision not to make the 2017 RCDG Award recipients public, which is a significant departure from previous years, elevates my concerns,\u201d Heitkamp wrote in her letter to Secretary Perdue.\u00a0\u201cBasic information on who received grants or loans, the amount and intended use of the federal funds is reasonable information a federal agency should disclose.\u201d\r\nHeitkamp presented Secretary Perdue with a detailed list of questions about the RCDG grant process, and expressed the need to protect these programs against possible budget cuts.\r\n\u201cAs the USDA progresses forward with the reorganization of the Rural Development mission area and their programs continue to be targeted for cuts from the administration, I would like stress how important these programs are to rural communities across the country and especially to states like North Dakota,\u201d she wrote.\r\nClick here for the full text of Heitkamp\u2019s letter.\u00a0\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=1845C628-5D08-4749-9CFF-F771B54009F1"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6348687931895256, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}