How COVID-19 stimulus money will end up in U.S. tobacco farmers’ pockets

U.S. government aid payments to tobacco farmers will be channeled through a new account within the office of the agriculture secretary, an unusual move that bypasses the normal mechanism for distributing farm aid and stokes concerns about how the government is using COVID-19 stimulus.

…

The payments would benefit farmers in North Carolina, a swing state in the Nov. 3 presidential election and the country’s top tobacco producer. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are locked in a dead heat among likely voters in North Carolina, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday.

Election ploy!