Crop Insurance Under Attack This Week On Capitol Hill
Last week, AgriPulse and other news media outlets reported that the Federal Crop Insurance program is likely to come under attack. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told AgriPulse he had a number of amendments to introduce to cut the program.
Not all in the Senate agree with Senator Flake. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s staff was one of many from the Ohio delegation that met with Congress last week during the annual March Capitol Hill visit. Senator Brown’s staff made it very clear that the Senator has no interest in revisiting the bipartisan agreement in the 2014 Farm Bill.
Ohio Soybean Association (OSA) members have consistently reported that they support the program.
“Our membership supports the crop insurance program as a fair way to ensure that farmers will only get support when it is needed,” said Tommie Price, OSA president and soybean farmer from Putnam County. “We prefer a shift away from direct payments into a system that only pays when prices take a big dive or in a disaster situation.”
Calls to Ohio Senators Brown and Rob Portman early this week will be critical to defeating Senator Flakes’ amendments. Call Senator Brown at 202-224-2315 and Senator Portman at 202-224-3353.