Rep. Cuellar Votes in Support of Farm Bill

Texas Border Business

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WASHINGTON— Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) joined his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives by voting for H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, also known as the Farm Bill. The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 369-47, will extend all agriculture and nutrition programs for the next five years, that includes support for farmers and ranchers in Texas and across the country. This legislation passed the U.S. Senate, and now moves to the President’s desk to be signed into law. 

“This bill is a direct investment for our farmers and cattle ranchers,” said Congressman Cuellar. “It will also ensure that Americans in rural and urban areas across the country continue to be provided with the safest and most abundant food supply in the world. Specifically, this legislation will modernize our agriculture support systems, save American taxpayer dollars, and offer our farmers and ranchers certainty on how American agriculture policy will be regulated.”

Congressman Cuellar continued, “I would like to thank House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (TX-11), Ranking Member Collin Peterson (MN-7), and my fellow colleagues for working across the aisle to get this crucial bill passed.”

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Nutrition & Hunger

This bill preserves crucial benefits for millions of Texans and their families, such as:

• Reauthorizes SNAP for five years;
• Expands funding for food banks with $206 million for The Emergency Food Assistance; Program (TEFAP), which helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans, including the elderly;
• Makes donating fluid milk for food banks and other feeding programs easier; and Provides $238 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which works to improve the health of low-income elderly persons by supplementing their diets with nutritious foods.

Support for Farmers & Ranchers

• Maintains the core provisions of the federal crop insurance program, which is permanently authorized;
• Increases farm loan authorization level from $4.23 billion to $10 billion, including a 50 percent set-aside for direct operating loans for beginning farmers and ranchers;
• Combines and establishes mandatory funding for important programs to promote U.S. agricultural exports;
• Improves the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs and offers producers choices;
• Allows farmers to update their program yields, boosting their eligibility to receive support;
• Increases marketing loan rates to improve farmers’ cash flow and access to credit when prices are low during harvest time;
• Updates limits on Farm Service Agency (FSA) farm loans to keep pace with increasing costs and land values; and
• Expands access to FSA farm loans for veteran and beginning farmers.

Partnerships with HSIs

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Reauthorizes National Institute of Food and Agriculture education grants programs for Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), which prepare underrepresented students for careers related to the food, agricultural, and natural resource systems. HSIs in South Texas include: Laredo College, South Texas College, Texas A&M International University, University of Texas at San Antonio, and the University of the Incarnate Word.

Conservation

• The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which received $1.75 billion for FY19, would receive $2.03 billion by FY23. The program helps agricultural producers confront challenges while conserving natural resources like soil, water and air. Through EQIP, the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides agricultural producers with financial resources and one-on-one help to plan and implement improvements and conservation practices. Using these practices can lead to cleaner water and air, healthier soil and better wildlife habitat, all while improving agricultural operations for farmers in the 28th District;

• Increases the amount of land allowed under the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers not to produce crops on environmentally sensitive land; and
• $450 million annually for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, which provides financial and technical assistance to help restore, protect, and enhance agricultural lands and wetlands.

Rural Development & Transparency

This legislation includes provisions that helps struggling rural hospitals to gain better financial footing, reauthorizes critical rural water and sewer infrastructure programs, and boosts technical assistant for rural development programs in rural communities. It additionally increases USDA transparency. Provisions include:

• $350 million annually for new broadband infrastructure. New projects would have to be in areas where at least 90 percent of households are unserved by broadband, instead of 15 percent under current law;
• $82 million for Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants, which help rural communities use the unique capabilities of telecommunications to connect to each other and the world;
• $65 million for Rural Business Development Grants;
• $50 million for Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants;
• Requires USDA to establish a rural health liaison; and
• Improves transparency through annual reports of USDA lending activity.

Animal & Plant Health

• $120 million from FY19 through FY22, and $30 million annually after that, for animal disease management programs, including research on cattle fever ticks;
• Beginning in FY23, $18 million for a new National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program;
• Funding would also be allocated for a new National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank and for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network;
• Provides $25 million annually for a new Citrus Trust Fund for research into citrus diseases and pests; and
• $15 million annually for five years for USDA to establish a National Plant Diagnostic Network to monitor threats to plant health.

For more information about the Farm Bill’s provisions, please- Advertisement -