PETERSON ANNOUNCES PASSAGE OF AGRICULTURE RELIEF PACKAGE
$675 Million Targeted to Northwest Minnesota Region
(Washington, D.C.) -- Congressman Collin C. Peterson (DFL-7th District) announced today that the Agriculture Appropriations Bill passed the House today and contains emergency farm assistance money for Minnesota farmers.
“I am pleased that we have finally passed this hurdle. While the package is not perfect, I am glad that we are getting some assistance into the pipeline. I think it is important to get help out to our farmers as quickly as we can,” Peterson said
According to Peterson, the agriculture spending bill contains several important provisions related to disaster assistance. Overall, the bill includes $4.3 billion for disaster aid. The package includes $1.5 billion for crop loss payments with $675 million targeted directly to the Northwest Minnesota and North Dakota region that has faced multi-year disasters. The measure also includes $1.7 billion in one-time payments to farmers eligible for market transition payments. The payments will be based on 29% of the FY 98 payments. The plan also provides $175 million in emergency livestock feed assistance and crop insurance refunds in certain cases.
"I regret that we were unable to get the House leadership to fix the major problems in crop insurance and reestablish a safety net. I think that we have started to address the short term problems and ignored the long term fixes."
The spending bill also provides over $50 billion for USDA and FDA programs, including food aid. In addition to program funds, the bill also directs USDA to extend the Northeast Dairy Compact and to delay the dairy market order reform.
"I am very upset that the conference committee chose to secretly insert this destructive dairy language. However, the reform is only delayed for a few months, so I am still hopeful that a more equitable dairy policy can be created for our Minnesota dairy farmers," Peterson said
The appropriations bill is expected to be delivered to the White House in a few days. The President has threatened a veto of the bill if it does not contain enough farm disaster assistance.
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