Hoeven: Highway Bill to Restore $3 Billion Cut in Crop Insurance Made in Budget Agreement

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven announced that the new five-year highway bill Congress is on track to pass this week restores $3 billion that was cut from crop insurance in the budget agreement completed in October. Hoeven worked as a member of the Agriculture Committee to reverse efforts to further cut crop insurance funding, which has already been reduced by $12 billion since 2008.

“This is an important provision for our farmers and ranchers in North Dakota and across the country,” Hoeven said. “We worked very hard to get a long-term farm bill that provides our producers with good options for managing risk with strengthened crop insurance. At the same time, we saved $23 billion dollars to help reduce the deficit. Farmers and ranchers need the certainty of knowing there is a safety net in place when they make the large investments necessary to continue producing quality, affordable food for the nation and the world.

As a member of both the Agriculture Committee and the joint Senate-House committee that negotiated the final version of the 2014 farm bill, Hoeven worked hard to include enhanced crop insurance. The farm legislation not only retains current individual crop insurance, but enhances crop insurance by helping farmers improve their yield history under the current program and by creating a new Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO). The SCO enables producers to purchase a supplemental policy beyond their individual farm-based policy.

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