WASHINGTON – Sen.Chuck Grassley condemned the action by the Democrat-controlled House ofRepresentatives to strip out aid to Iowa’s farmers devastated by last year’sderecho in their $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The derecho aid wasproposed by Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra (Iowa-04) and supported byDemocratic Rep. Cindy Axne (Iowa-03). It was adopted by the House AgricultureCommittee, but later removed from the final package.
 
“Bystripping out needed aid for Iowa’s farmers, the Democrat-controlled Houseturned its back on Iowa, and threw one of its own under the bus in the process –all in the name of partisan politics. In all my decades of farming, I’ve neverseen the scale of devastation that Iowa suffered by last year’s derecho.Millions of acres of farmland were destroyed and many barns, grain bins andother facilities were leveled. Providing needed assistance should be anon-partisan issue. Yet even after Congressman Feenstra’s amendment was adopted– with the support of Congresswoman Axne – the Democratic leadership decided toreverse course.
 
“Idoubt the fate of this critical amendment would be the same had it been offeredby a Democrat. They want to spend almost $2 trillion on a wish list of liberalpolicies. Sadly Iowa farmers didn’t make the cut. Today, the House betrayedIowa and signaled that bipartisan assistance to those in need must take abackseat to partisan political priorities,” Grassley said.
 
Thederecho that struck Iowa last August impacted 3.57 million acres of corn and2.5 million acres of soybeans. Damage from the storm is estimated to total $7.5billion. The Feenstra amendment would have made derecho-impacted producers inIowa eligible for an agriculture disaster program that’s already available forthose impacted by hurricanes and wildfires.
 

 

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