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Summary:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers several permanently authorized programs to help farmers recover financially from a natural disaster, including federal crop insurance, the noninsured assistance program, and emergency disaster loans. Since 1988, Congress regularly has made supplemental financial assistance available to farmers and ranchers, primarily in the form of crop disaster payments and emergency livestock assistance. The 109th Congress provided about $1.6 billion in agricultural assistance in two emergency supplemental acts (P.L. 109-148, P.L. 109-234) exclusively for agricultural losses caused by the 2005 Gulf state hurricanes. To date, Congress has not authorized any emergency agricultural assistance for 2005 production losses outside of the Gulf region, or for any 2006 agricultural losses nationwide. The Senate-reported version of the pending FY2007 agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 5384) contains $4.0 billion in various forms of farm assistance, including payments for major crop and livestock losses caused by any 2005 disaster, and bonus payments for recipients of direct payments under farm support programs. Prior to the October recess, supporters of farm disaster aid wanted Congress to consider a $6.5 billion disaster farm package that would have covered both 2005 and 2006 production losses. However, because of the cost and the Administration's demand for a budgetary offset for the new spending, no action has been taken to date on any assistance. This report will be updated as conditions warrant.
