HURON – Bipartisan legislation aimed at giving farmers and ranchers more emergency flexibility in combatting forage shortages in disaster years and avoiding a massive selloff of livestock is gaining congressional and national coalition support, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said Wednesday.
Producers should be able to graze their animals on prevented planting acres well before the Nov. 1 date that crop insurance rules in the Farm Bill call for, he said in a conference call a week ago.
Johnson has now joined with fellow freshman Rep. Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, in introducing the Feed Emergency Enhancement During Disasters (FEEDD) Act.
He told reporters on Wednesday that 14 national farm groups, associations and coalitions have come out in support of the bill since it was introduced two days earlier. So have a number of members of Congress in both parties representing districts surrounding South Dakota, he said.
With 10,000 bills introduced in Congress every year, many are what’s known as messaging vehicles, Johnson said.
But not this one. The intent is to change policy, he said. Johnson said he wants the legislation to move forward or to put enough pressure on the administration to act.
“We want livestock producers to be able to help themselves,” he said. “They don’t want another government program. We have people with serious concerns.”
Not only is Craig a good partner in the effort, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, also a Minnesota Democrat, has expressed his support. It’s not typical for committee chairs to sign on to a bill as they prefer independence, Johnson said.
The FEEDD Act would allow producers to graze their livestock on cover crops that will be planted this year because wet conditions have delayed them in getting corn and soybeans into the ground.
Under the Federal Crop Insurance Program, producers unable to plant a crop due to adverse weather conditions are eligible to receive a small indemnity but are prohibited from growing a cash commodity due to a missed window in the growing season.
The FEEDD Act would create an emergency waiver authority for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow producers to graze, hay or chop a cover crop before Nov. 1 in the event of a feed shortage due to excessive moisture, flood or drought, Johnson said.
“Producers are already facing five years of declining net farm incomes and this wet spring has thrown another challenge their way,” Johnson said in a news release.
However, the legislation must be passed in the next few weeks or it won’t help, he said.
A certain number of noncontroversial bills can go to the House floor right away, but require a two-thirds vote. He said cosponsors need to work through the Agriculture Committee, but thinks they have a fighting shot because of the chairman’s backing.
An easier way for it to happen is for the administration to allow it, but he said he and others are trying to get it done however possible.
Meanwhile, Johnson was asked if it’s possible for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, known as USMCA, will pass Congress before the long August recess.
“I remain cautiously optimistic,” he said. “We have to get this done. Clearly, this is a big win for the United States.”
He said USMCA can act as a template to move trade agreements with other countries around the world forward.
“It can do a lot to help advance the global trade,” he said.
Johnson has been meeting with other freshmen and Democrats, seeking to convince them to join him in putting pressure on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to put the USMCA bill on the floor for a vote this summer. “I think her members are starting to talk to her about it,” he said.
If it can’t get passed by the August recess, it will impede progress on other agreements, he said.
In an emotional House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, 9/11 first responders who have become ill in the years since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers testified in support of a reauthorized Victim Compensation Fund. Many have already died after having breathed toxic fumes from Ground Zero.
Former “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart had harsh words for subcommittee members, only five of whom were at the hearing. On Wednesday, the full Judiciary Committee voted unanimously for reauthorization.
Johnson said he supports continued funding.
“We’ve made promises to these survivors,” he said. “We’re making good on a commitment we already made to the families and survivors.”
