Ag Policy Blog

OMAHA (DTN) -- President Joe Biden is asking Congress to fund $21 billion in aid for farmers and ranchers as part of a $98.6 billion overall disaster package the president proposed that Congress pass before the end of the year.

In a letter Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., the White House detailed some of the country's needs recovering from natural disasters and economic challenges. The president cited a need to provide more emergency funding to help communities recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton as well as other natural disasters.

To bolster the president's request, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a disaster assessment from different federal departments. Included was a letter from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to congressional appropriators earlier in November.

"Due to the level of devastation resulting from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Department will likely need additional tools to comprehensively address the challenges producers and rural communities are facing" Vilsack stated. "For instance, without additional funding for Emergency Watershed Protection, assistance to local communities to clear debris and restore culverts bridges and other infrastructure will be delayed. In recent disasters, Congress provided additional funding to support farmers and ranchers with crop losses; without this funding, uninsured producers will not get any assistance."

For USDA, Biden proposed $23.5 billion overall, the lion's share of which would go to help farmers and ranchers who have suffered livestock or crop losses due to hurricanes, drought and wildfires. Another $1 billion would go to the Emergency Watershed Protection Program Oto help rural communities deal with debris removal and infrastructure repairs.

The USDA funding would also go to create permanent pay reforms for federal wildfire firefighters and support food aid for people hit by disasters and food banks that may have been affected by Helene and Milton.

Biden's letter also cited that the Small Business Administration (SBA) has already had its disaster loan program "completely exhausted" and Congress must act to restore that $2 billion in funding. The White House stated, "SBA loans are a pivotal lifeline for local businesses" and SBA had received more than 100,000 loan applications just tied to Helene and Milton. The White House added, "the American people cannot afford any further delay in the restoration of this vital funding."

The White House also proposed $40 billion to restore funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has been trying to support recovery from the two hurricanes.

Congress last passed a comprehensive disaster package in 2022, and as recently as 2017 spent over $120 billion in disaster aid following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa., on Monday also highlighted his tour through Florida and Georgia to see hurricane damage. Thompson cited projections from the University of Georgia that the hurricanes caused an overall economic impact of $6.46 billion to the agriculture industry in the state. In Florida. State officials estimate Milton caused between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion in damage to crops and agricultural infrastructure.

"Traveling to the Southeast, I was able to see firsthand the devastating impact of the recent hurricanes," Thompson said. "Hurricanes Milton and Helene hit our agricultural sector especially hard, highlighting the urgent need for disaster relief."

Agricultural groups overall have been advocating for Congress to take up a disaster relief bill. The American Farm Bureau Federation last week detailed roughly $20 billion in unrecovered losses by farmers going back to 2022.

Under the White House details for $21 billion to producers, the proposal stated funds would be used to reimburse for crop production, crop quality, and orchard tree losses in addition to crop insurance indemnities. The payments would come under the Emergency Relief Program (ERP), though by the time USDA writes the rules for an aid package the Trump administration would take over and write the rules and likely create a new name for a disaster program.

For livestock producers, the funding could be used to compensate for increases in supplemental feed costs, due to drought or wildfires.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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