04.11.22

Hoeven Urges Biden Administration to Protect Access to Credit for Farmers and Ranchers

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, joined Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) in pushing back on the Biden administration’s use of the financial regulatory system to potentially harm farmers and ranchers’ access to capital. The senators outline the threat to the nation’s food supply should the administration advance its radical environmental agenda mitigating banks’ and credit unions’ exposure to climate risks. 

“We believe banks and credit unions are well positioned to continue responsibly serving their farm and ranch clients, many of which they have served for decades,” the senators wrote. “Any reduction in lending by banks and credit unions to the agriculture sector – or to any sector that is disliked by its political opponents – would not only harm the businesses themselves, but directly harm consumers due to increased costs of food and energy that would inevitably occur as a result of reduced supply. Further, increasingly onerous federal policies will undercut the agriculture industry’s voluntary investments to deepen their ongoing stewardship of natural resources.”

In addition to Hoeven and Thune, the letter was signed by Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). 

Click here for the full text of the letter.              

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