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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 has regularly made supplemental financial assistance available to farmers and ranchers, primarily in the form of crop disaster payments and emergency livestock assistance. The conference agreement on the FY2007 Iraq war supplemental bill (H.R. 1591) contained an estimated $3.5 billion in emergency agricultural assistance. The total included an estimated $1.85 billion in crop loss assistance and $1.43 billion in livestock aid, compensating agricultural producers for losses in any one of the last three years -- 2005, 2006, or early 2007. The President vetoed the measure on May 1, 2007, primarily because of Iraqi war provisions. Agricultural disaster provisions similar to those in the vetoed bill are expected to be included in a future supplemental bill. However, the future of disaster provisions remains uncertain since the Administration has stated its opposition to any disaster aid that is not offset by other spending reductions. This report will be updated as conditions warrant.
