Dem: Halt Brazil bros handouts

A high-ranking Democratic senator demanded Tuesday that the Trump administration stop handing out contracts to a “corrupt” Brazilian-owned meatpacking company and ripped the $64 million deals as “a slap in the face” to the American farm community.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who’s a member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, made the demand in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Blumenthal’s missive came in response to Daily News reports revealing the administration has awarded taxpayerfunded multimillion-dollar pork contracts to JBS USA, the Colorado-based subsidiary of the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS SA — which is controlled by Joesley and Wesley Batista, two brothers who have confessed to bribing hundreds of politicians in Brazil.

The bailout money comes from a federal program created by President Trump that’s supposed to benefit American farmers who are struggling because of his administration’s trade war with China and other countries.

“It is simply unconscionable that corrupt foreign-owned companies like JBS currently qualify for assistance under USDA’s approved vendor criteria,” Blumenthal (photo) wrote to Perdue. “It is nothing short of a slap in the face to divert bailout money from American farmers who have been targeted with retaliatory tariffs from this administration’s trade war with China.”

The senator said the administration should “swiftly cancel” any existing contracts with JBS or other foreign-owned companies “and work to return taxpayers dollars to affected American farmers who continue to suffer.”

He also called on the Agriculture Department to publicize “selection criteria” that allowed the Brazilian-owned meatpacker to qualify for the bailouts, requesting the agency respond by June 3.