Washington, DC – Congressman Randy Neugebauer’s amendment to provide disaster relief for West Texas farmers and ranchers was included in the final Military Construction Appropriations legislation. The final package passed in the House Saturday by a unanimous vote of 374-0. 

  “I am elated to be part of the solution to providing disaster assistance to our producers in a fiscally responsible way,” Neugebauer said.  “This will give farmers and ranchers in West Texas and other areas the help they need to recover from the major losses they suffered from drought and storms last year or weather-related losses they may have had this year.  This effort was all about them, and I am delighted for them that this effort paid off.”

   The disaster assistance provision in the final bill provides assistance for crop losses and grazing losses for livestock, does not open the Farm Bill or affect commodity program spending, and saves taxpayer money.  To be eligible for the crop loss assistance, farmers must have a loss greater than 35 percent of their crop’s value in either 2003 or 2004.  Producers cannot receive assistance for both crop years.

   The $2.9 billion in nationwide agriculture disaster assistance, including crop and livestock losses in hurricane-affected areas, is paid for by reinstating spending limits for the Conservation Security Program (CSP).  The plan also stipulates that disaster assistance received by a farmer cannot exceed 95 percent of the crop’s worth absent the disaster.  Both offsets were used in the last disaster package that aided farmers across the country who suffered major losses in 2001 and 2002.

   Neugebauer earned support for his plan from President Bush, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia), Agriculture Appropriations Chairman Henry Bonilla (R-Texas) and a number of farm-state lawmakers.

    “I want to pay tribute to Congressman Randy Neugebauer for his leadership and skill to help deliver $2.9 billion to farmers and ranchers whose operations are afflicted with devastating drought,” Hastert said.  “They will get the relief they need sooner, rather than later, while America’s taxpayers have been protected because Congressman Neugebauer made sure the drought aid would be paid for under our budget parameters.

   “We would not have gotten an agreement on this disaster assistance without offsets,” said Neugebauer.  “I did not want offsets, but that’s what it took to get the job done and that’s the bottom line.  Capping the CSP does not impact farmers or farm programs because not all the money projected for that program was going to be spent.  Even with the cap, there is still $6 billion available for CSP, and that’s three times what was originally projected when the program was created.”

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