Prepared Remarks by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Update on Efforts to Address Midwest Floods and Introduction of Disaster Tax Relief Bill
Thursday, April 11, 2019
I come before the Senate again to talk about the devastating flooding in Iowa and the Midwest.
In western Iowa, we still have areas underwater from flooding on the Missouri River and tributaries.
In the east, we are dealing with Mississippi River and tributary flooding.
Unfortunately, the weather isn’t cooperating with additional storms and precipitation throughout the upper Midwest as I speak that could exacerbate flooding and hinder cleanup and repairs.
This flooding is still an active event.
But, as we move to recovery, we know that the original damage estimates in Iowa are increasing.
Many roads are still closed or collapsing, levee damages are extensive, towns are devastated, and many individuals lost their homes and businesses.
In just six counties in Iowa, 416,000 acres of cropland were flooded.
Many are still underwater.
These farmers are facing the challenge of not being able to plant this year.
Unfortunately many of these farmers’ soils were just recovering from previous years major flooding.
This is compounded by many losing their previous harvest through having their on-farm storage bins compromised or destroyed.
Throughout the Midwestern areas that had severe flooding, 832 on-farm storage bins have been identified that could have been compromised or destroyed.
They hold an estimated 5 -10 million bushels of corn and soybeans, worth between $17.3 million to $34.6 million.
There is an existing program, called the WHIP program, that is designed to address agricultural losses not covered by crop insurance or other programs.
I reached out to USDA to see if this program could be used for losses of on-farm stored corn and soybeans.
I was told because the WHIP program was designed for other commodities affected by hurricanes and wildfires, they needed a few words added to the law to extend that same help to the Midwest.
I asked what those words were, spoke to Senators Shelby and Perdue who agreed to work with me, and filed a short amendment to the disaster bill along with Senator Ernst and several of my colleagues from the Midwest.
I am optimistic that this simple fix, which will mean so much to farmers facing such unusual catastrophic losses, can be included as the disaster bill moves forward.
Yesterday, I joined Senators Fischer, Ernst, and Sasse in introducing the Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019.
This bill includes a series of disaster tax relief provisions that will help American families and businesses recover from the terrible disasters that have occurred so far in 2019, including the Midwest flooding.
On February 28th, I introduced a bipartisan bill with Senator Wyden that included the same tax relief provisions, which would assist victims of disasters that occurred in 2018.
So I view these two bills as complementary, providing disaster tax relief with respect to disasters occurring in 2018 and 2019.
The bill I introduced in February also includes extensions of a series tax provision that expired in 2017 and 2018 – the so-called tax extenders.
We need to get those provisions enacted, just like the disaster tax relief provisions.
I encourage the House Democrats to send the Senate a bill that addresses both tax extenders and disaster tax relief provisions.
Americans need certainty as they file their taxes for 2018, and they need tax relief as they recover from these natural disasters.
And, they really need House Democrats to act now.
The disaster tax relief provisions included in the bill we have introduced reduce penalties and make it easier to access retirement funds so individuals and families can get back up on their feet faster and rebuild their lives.
They also make it easier for disaster victims to claim personal casualty losses and they suspend certain limitations on charitable contributions to encourage more donations for disaster relief.
For businesses affected by the disasters, this tax relief is available to help them retain employees while the business gets back up and running.
Let’s continue the bipartisan tradition of helping our fellow Americans when disasters strike by enacting this tax relief for both 2018 and 2019 so that disaster victims don’t have to wait any longer to access this important assistance and continue getting back on their feet.
And let’s provide the certainty that taxpayers deserve by enacting extensions of the expired tax provisions.
I encourage House Democrats to move swiftly;
the Senate and the American people are waiting.
Next week, the Environment and Public Works Committee is holding a field hearing in Southwest Iowa to provide oversight on the Army Corps of Engineers management of the 2019 Missouri River flooding.
Senator Ernst is chairing this hearing and I am participating.
Flood control should be the number one priority of the Corps in its management of the Missouri River.
There are eight authorized purposes in the Missouri River Master Manual.
The other seven can be at cross purposes to flood control.
We need to discuss how to prevent massive flooding and act to ensure that folks in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas are not faced with devastation every couple of years.
I appreciate the stamina and determination of Iowans.
Many have a long recovery ahead of them.
I will continue to do everything I can at the federal level to help the State of Iowa, Iowa communities, and individual Iowans recover and rebuild.
-30-