(The Center Square) – Congressmen led by North Carolina Republican Sen. Ted Budd are asking Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for an expedited rules process on a $20.78 billion package of aid.
Citing natural disasters and catastrophic damages, Budd and 28 others signed a letter reading in part, “These natural disasters have caused irreparable damage to commodity and specialty crops, livestock, forestlands, and infrastructure, leaving farmers, ranchers, and foresters in desperate need of support.”
Money is already approved. It came in the $110 billion relief package authorized by the 118th Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden in December. Much of the agriculture assistance is going to the South, where Hurricanes Milton and Helene were two of the three in 66 days hitting Florida and doing significant damage.
The congressmen write in the Monday letter, “Over the past two years, farm income has dropped drastically. In 2023, farm income dropped by $34.6 billion from the previous year, and in 2024, farm income dropped another $8.2 billion. This, coupled with the projected U.S. farm trade deficit to hit $49 billion in fiscal year 2025, has left farmers facing difficult financial conditions under which to renew lines of credit for this year’s growing season.”
The letter says, “Lack of clarity in the rulemaking process for natural disaster programs will prevent many farmers from fully utilizing the aid.”
Budd is joined from the upper chamber by U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina; Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia; Shelley Moore Capito and James Justice of West Virginia; Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia; and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
House of Representatives members signing include North Carolina Reps. Pat Harrigan, Chuck Edwards, Don Davis, David Rouzer, Richard Hudson, Virginia Foxx, Dr. Greg Murphy, Tim Moore, Deborah Ross, Brad Knott and Addison McDowell; Georgia Reps. Austin Scott, Buddy Carter, Rick Allen, Sanford Bishop and David Scott; Florida’s Vern Buchanan, Scott Franklin and Kathy Castor; and Virginia’s Morgan Griffith.
The breakdown on their stripes is five Republicans and four Democrats from the Senate; and 14 Republicans and six Democrats from the House.
About 42,500 farms are operated on 8.1 million acres in North Carolina. Damage from Hurricane Helene has been estimated between $53 billion and $60 billion by former Gov. Roy Cooper and first term Gov. Josh Stein, respectively.
North Carolina is No. 1 nationally each in all tobacco, flu-cured tobacco, sweet potatoes, and poultry and eggs. The state is No. 2 in Christmas tree sales, production of turkeys, and food-size trout sold. It is No. 3 in cucumbers and hogs, No. 4 in peanuts and broilers (chicken), and No. 5 in cotton.
Georgia is No. 1 nationally in peanuts and broilers (chicken). Florida is No. 1 in floriculture, Valencia oranges, sugarcane, watermelons and sweet corn. Tennessee is No. 1 nationally in acres for sorghum for syrup.
