Klobuchar Calls on House of Representatives to Take Immediate Action on 2012 Farm Bill

Press Release

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar today called on the House of Representatives to take immediate action on the 2012 Farm Bill. Senator Klobuchar is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and worked to craft the 5-year, 2012 Farm Bill which passed the Senate in June with bipartisan support but has not received a vote in the House. In a speech on the Senate floor, Klobuchar said that the House needs to take action so that Minnesota farmers and ranchers have the support and certainty they need to succeed.

"This summer farmers in the corn belt waited, sometimes in vain, for rain that could either make or break an entire year of work. And right now farmers, ranchers, and rural communities throughout the country continue to wait for a new Farm Bill,"Klobuchar said. "It is time for the House to take action on this 5-year Farm Bill which provides a critical safety net and certainty for farmers in Minnesota and across the country."

During her speech, Klobuchar highlighted the fact that it has been 167 days since the Senate passed a bipartisan Farm Bill this June, and 66 days since the 2008 Farm Bill expired in September.

The 2012 Farm Bill that passed the Senate in June strengthens the crop insurance program and also reauthorizes critical livestock disaster programs such as the Livestock Indemnity Program, which compensates ranchers at a rate of 75% of market value for livestock mortality caused by a disaster, and the Emergency Disaster Loan Program, which provides producers with low interest loans when a county has been declared a federal disaster area. The Farm Bill also includes four of Klobuchar's provisions supporting farmers and ranchers, including provisions to help beginning farmers and ranchers gain better access to the critical crop insurance program as well as land for grazing cattle, as well as a provision requiring a feasibility study for insuring swine producers against catastrophic losses.

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