During a Senate Appropriations Committee last week, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) spoke about the Trump administration's rollout of disaster relief funding for farmers.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Ranking Member, and thank you, Madam Secretary, for being here.
00:06Thank you, Senator.
00:06I am thrilled to have you there.
00:08I think you've already proven to be a great Secretary of Agriculture.
00:14My hat is off to you.
00:16The challenges that you're facing in reorganization and a new administration is a tall drink of water.
00:23And I certainly want to be helpful any way I can,
00:28and I can attest to those 5 a.m. texts that I don't know when you sleep,
00:32but there's so many challenges out there.
00:35And, of course, as the former head of the Mississippi Department of Agriculture,
00:39I know all the players.
00:41And getting the calls I'm getting now on the concerns that you are desperately trying to address
00:47is very much appreciated because there's a lot of glaring concerns that we have to take a look at.
00:55And I just admire the speed that you're tackling this and the tasks that you have in front of you.
01:02And before I go to the questions, and I know that this is about the 2026 budget request,
01:08but before I go into these questions, I just want to say this to everybody in the room.
01:13Congress needs to address the outdated and inadequate safety nets that's in the Farm Bill during the budget reconciliation process.
01:26There's a lot of farmers in Mississippi and across this country that are not going to be able to continue unless we do address this.
01:35It is so concerning for me.
01:38And addressing one aspect of the Farm Bill snap in reconciliation without making improvements to the Farm Safety Net,
01:46it will make it extremely difficult to pass a Farm Bill.
01:50But it is so critical.
01:52So American farmers, as you well know, desperately want a new and improved Farm Bill.
01:58And I think it's our job to improve the Farm Bill.
02:02So let's give that to them by addressing the safety net and reconciliation.
02:08I can't scream that enough.
02:10And like I said, I know this is about the budget, but that is so critically important that we do this now.
02:17I want to just commend you on how efficiently and fast the Department got out the $10 billion in disaster aid Congress passed in December
02:29to help commodity producers cope with the unbelievable input and cost and the depressed commodity prices.
02:37You are excellent at doing that, and I've had my farmers call and thank me for that.
02:43But through the USDA's Emergency Commodity Assistance Program or the ECAP that you've referenced,
02:50you know, many farmers are able to farm this crop this year that literally they would not be able to otherwise.
02:56Yeah.
02:57When I have bankers come to me and say,
03:01we are not going to finance your farmers next year without something,
03:05it was that critical and it was not sounding the alarm.
03:09It was just pure fact is what we were dealing with.
03:11So thank you for that.
03:13But when can we expect USDA to distribute the remaining disaster funds for 2023 and 2024 for the weather-related losses?
03:23That's the questions that we're being asked right now.
03:25If you could address that.
03:26Yes, ma'am.
03:27And I appreciate all the good words.
03:30And just quickly, it is the team sitting over my right shoulder
03:34and the people back at USDA that literally worked seven days a week, 18, 20-hour days to get that first tranche of funding out.
03:41And I'm so grateful to them and the unbelievable amount of time and effort they put into it.
03:46They're putting that same amount of time and effort into this now second tranche on the disaster relief.
03:51The portal should open within a matter of weeks before the end of the month to allow those grant applications to begin being processed.
03:58Our goal is timely, efficient, and turn it around quickly.
04:01With the first tranche, that first $10 billion, the ECAP, we were turning it in two to three days,
04:06which I believe is unprecedented for any government program, but certainly for USDA.
04:11And our goal is to have the same sort of speed, timeliness, and hopefully effectiveness on the second launch as well.
04:19And thank you for that.
04:20And there's no doubt that you're not going to accomplish that because you've done so well so far.
04:25And we've talked about the FSA county levels and the staffing and the decisions that have been made.
04:32But again, as I hear from all of my producers and so many throughout the country, we know that some of this is so necessary.
04:42And it is going to benefit us in the long run.
04:44It's kind of like cleaning out a closet.
04:46You dread doing it and you get everything out and it's just stuff everywhere until you get it sorted and organized and put back.
04:55And I know that you're...
04:55That's an amazing metaphor that I can completely understand and appreciate.
04:58Yeah, with four children, we can clean out closets, but that's where we are.
05:03Yes, ma'am.
05:03And to get it organized, put in the proper place, but to get to the end of the conclusions, is it being spent properly?
05:12And are we doing the most that we can to make it efficient?
05:17So my question is just, it's so critically important that support continues to reach these producers.
05:24And can we just ask that you work with the subcommittee on doing that?
05:28Absolutely.
05:29And it brings up a bigger question, I think, Senator, that the average age of the farmer is 58.
05:35That's a whole other hearing for another time, how we reverse that trend.
05:38But I think it goes to not to cast any of us, you know, around that age or older aspersions at any of us.
05:44But that, you know, moving to online is important at some point.
05:48But that's my point.
05:49It isn't today.
05:50And especially with all the challenges and the headwinds against our producers, we have to keep those frontliners in place as we're moving these projects out.
05:58Well, you have an unbelievable task with a huge agency, but I just want you to know you've got my support.
06:04I've been on the front lines.
06:06I've been there.
06:07And I am very, very pleased with what you're doing and the direction you're headed.
06:12And thank you for being willing to do it.
06:14Thank you, Senator.