Senator votes to approve bipartisan measure to boost Missouri economy, provide certainty to farmers and ranchers
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today released the following statement after the U.S. Senate voted with broad, bipartisan support for a renewed Farm Bill:
“Just as we did last year, the Senate has passed a Farm Bill that saves taxpayers money, reduces our deficit, and provides Missouri’s farmers and ranchers the certainty they need to plan for the future. It will once again head to the U.S. House, where they can either fail rural America by refusing to act—just as they did last year—or they can approve this crucial, bipartisan measure, and provide a needed boost to the cornerstone of Missouri’s economy.”
- Will save $24 billion over 10 years, slightly more than the $23 billion in savings included in the 2012 Farm Bill
- Ends the wasteful direct payments program, in which farmers received payments even when prices were high, often for crops they weren’t even growing
- Contains dairy programs that will help Missouri dairy farmers access additional resources in the face of rising input costs
- Retroactively renews livestock disaster assistance programs to cover fiscal years 2012 through 2018, which will provide critical support in response to last summer’s disastrous drought
Last year, McCaskill helped pass the bipartisan Farm Bill to support agriculture jobs, reauthorize essential disaster assistance programs, strengthen resources for family farms and ranches. In December, she joined a bipartisan group of Senators in urging Congress to include the Farm Bill as part of the end-of-year package, in order to provide certainty for Missouri’s farmers and ranchers. Last year’s efforts failed after the U.S. House refused to act on the legislation.
McCaskill has also proposed legislation that would end wasteful Direct Payments—direct cash transfers of taxpayer dollars to farmers from the government that do not take into account current yields or prices.
