08.02.21

Hoeven, Boozman Statement After Senate Ag Appropriations Advances Bill with $7 Billion in Disaster Assistance to Farmers and Ranchers

Ranking Members Continue Working Together to Provide Producers with Support to Overcome Natural Disasters

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, and Senator John Boozman (R-AR), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, released the following statements after working to include more than $7 billion in disaster assistance to help farmers and ranchers with losses due to drought and other natural disasters as part of the Senate’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which was approved by the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee today.

As the ranking member of Senate Agriculture Appropriations, Hoeven was responsible for crafting the legislation and worked with Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Boozman on the disaster assistance provisions. Specifically, the more than $7 billion includes:

  • $6.28 billion for disaster assistance to aid producers who suffered losses due to droughts, hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other qualifying natural disasters in calendar year 2020 and 2021.
  • $750 million for livestock producers for losses incurred during 2021 due to drought or wildfire. This disaster assistance will build on top of existing farm bill programs for livestock producers.

The legislation will now go to the full Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration.

“With many of our farmers and ranchers facing a severe drought and other natural disasters, we worked to include more than $7 billion in this year’s agriculture appropriations bill, including $750 million for livestock producers. This will help to cover losses and keep our producers in the game as they overcome these challenges,”said Hoeven. “Ranking Member Boozman and I have been working together to provide our producers with the necessary support to overcome disasters, including severe drought, wildfire and flooding, and I look forward to continuing to work with him to do all we can to support our farmers, ranchers and rural America.”  

“Extreme weather and natural disasters have made for challenging conditions for farmers and ranchers that don’t appear to be subsiding soon. Well over half of the country is experiencing drought like conditions, wildfires are raging in the West and flooding has caused extensive damage to crops along the Mississippi Delta, including in Arkansas, where I have seen firsthand the destruction this flooding has left in its wake,” said Boozman. “I appreciate Ranking Member Hoeven’s leadership to ensure that disaster assistance was included in this bill. We are committed to working in a bipartisan manner with our Senate colleagues and our counterparts in the House to ensure we get much-needed disaster relief to producers impacted by these natural disasters.”  

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