WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his colleagues in a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Emergency Relief Program (ERP) for 2022, which provides $3.74 billion to assist farmers and ranchers impacted by natural disasters in 2022.
On November 17th, over 140 agricultural groups sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, raising concerns about the implementation of a new “progressive” payment factor in place of a single, uniform factor that the USDA has used in the past. Among the cosigners were several North Dakota agricultural groups including the North Dakota Corn Growers Association, the North Dakota Grain Growers Association, and the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association.
“Our intent was for the Department to administer the program in a manner consistent with the previous iteration of ERP and its predecessor program, the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+). Both programs were generally well received and should have served as the template for a 2022 disaster program,” the senators wrote.
“Unfortunately, several policy changes made by USDA run counter to our intent to provide assistance fairly to all producers based on their loss. These changes include the reimbursement of crop insurance premiums for only certain producers, along with a new “progressive” payment factor,” the senators continued.
The letter was led by U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND). Additional cosigners include U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Steve Daines (R-MT), James Lankford (R-OK), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), John Thune (R-SD), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
Click here for the letter.