09.17.19

Hoeven: House Should Support Farmers and Ranchers, Ensure MFP Payments Are Not Delayed

Senate Appropriators Call for Replenishment of USDA’s CCC in Funding Extension

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, today led Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee in pressing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey to support the nation’s farmers and ranchers and ensure that Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payments for producers are not blocked or delayed in the House of Representatives’ Continuing Resolution (CR).

Hoeven, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Appropriations Chair Richard Shelby, and Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Lindsey Graham, Roy Blunt, Jerry Moran, John Boozman, Shelley Moore Capito, John Kennedy, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Steve Daines, Marco Rubio, and James Lankford urged the House to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), which is routinely supported by Congress, to ensure producers have access to much-needed agriculture assistance.

“Our nation’s farmers and ranchers badly need the MFP committed to them by the President, using the legal authority that we in Congress provided.  For many of our producers, MFP will be the difference between continuing the family tradition or being denied the credit necessary to farm and ranch for another year. 

“The upcoming CR must include the anomaly requested by USDA that would allow them to access the $30 billion in spending of the CCC prior to October 1st to ensure that MFP payments and farm bill programs continue uninterrupted,” the senators wrote.  

The full text of the letter is here. 

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