US Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, sent a letter in late March to Secretary Brooke Rollins of the US Department of Agriculture urging her to work with Congress to expedite the distribution of more than $23 billion allocated in December to assist ranchers, farmers, and rural Americans who suffered from natural disasters in 2023-24.
Tillis sent this letter in partnership with US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH. The funds were allocated under the American Relief Act, 2025 (HR 10545).
“These funds will benefit producers in every State—the natural disasters that struck farms and ranches in 2023 and 2024 affected a wide range of crops, livestock, and on-farm infrastructure,” wrote the senators in the letter. “In North Carolina, Hurricane Helene is estimated to have caused almost $5 billion in agricultural losses, and in New Hampshire, a disastrous freeze in 2023 damaged apple and peach trees, as well as other crops, with growers seeing as high as 100 percent crop losses for the year.”
“As you know, this program is intended to serve both producers with and without crop insurance, and reach small, diversified operations,” reads the letter. “The supplemental provides targeted funds for small farm states, and it also specifically directs the Secretary to offer technical assistance to interested non-insured producers to help them apply for funding made available.”
The letter was sent shortly after a similar bipartisan letter was sent to Rollins on March 10, urging her to immediately distribute the allocated funding to farmers.
The March 10 letter was signed by numerous US lawmakers, including Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, as well as Reps. Chuck Edwards, R-NC11, Don Davis, D-NC01, David Rouzer, R-NC07, Richard Hudson, R-NC09, Virginia Foxx, R-NC05, Greg Murphy, R-NC03, Tim Moore, R-NC14, Brad Knott, R-NC13, Addison McDowell, R-NC06, Pat Harrigan, RNC10, and Deborah Ross, D-NC02.
The post Tillis urges secretary of agriculture to expedite disaster relief for farmers first appeared on Carolina Journal.
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