Senate Passes Record Drought Relief Bill

The Senate Monday unanimously approved the most generous drought relief legislation in U.S. history, allocating $3.9 billion for farmers hard hit by this year’s devastating dry spell.

The 92-0 vote sent the measure to the House for passage today or Wednesday, with the hope that President Reagan can sign it this week and speed emergency payments to hundreds of thousands of distressed farms.

Aid for Midwest

Although the entire country has been affected by the drought, the most extensive aid will go to farmers in the Midwestern Corn Belt, where 30% of the crop may be lost.

“This is a message of hope for American farmers . . . that help is on the way,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

“Without this legislation, a lot of farmers and farm families would be driven from their land because they wouldn’t make it through the year,” added Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas, who estimated that drought losses this year would range between $5 billion and $10 billion.

Compromise Measure

The Senate vote was on a compromise plan created from separate Senate and House bills passed late last month.

The measure provides that farmers would not have to pay back advance subsidy payments on the first 35% of their crop ruined by the drought.

In addition, for farmers who lose more than 35% of their crops, the bill provides for disaster payments equal to 65% of the anticipated market price of the crop or the anticipated federal subsidy.

Farmers who suffered the most--those who lose 75% or more of their crop--would receive 90% of their expected return on losses over that level.

Livestock producers who grow their own feed grain would benefit if they suffer losses on their crops, and the bill provides emergency aid for migrant farm workers and rural businesses adversely affected by the drought.

Lawmakers said the federal government would spend about $6 billion less on farm price supports this year because of the drought, more than covering the $3.9-billion cost of the relief measure, which zoomed through Congress in this election year.

In order to reduce the need for special drought-relief legislation in the future, producers who lost more than 65% of their crop generally would be required to buy federal crop insurance for 1989.

$100,000 Limit

No producer would be allowed to receive more than $100,000 in drought relief under terms of the legislation, which is designed to channel most of the benefits to family farms.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) said that those able to harvest part of their corn or spring wheat crops would benefit from higher prices because of drought-related shortages.

Recent rains, he said, have raised hopes that soybean crops might have a better chance of surviving 1988’s extraordinarily hot, dry weather. Leahy said it was “the worst drought in my lifetime.”

Costs Pared Down

Senate and House negotiators pared down the cost of the separate Senate and House bills to meet Reagan Administration objections. However, they retained an Administration-opposed provision to cancel a scheduled reduction in milk price supports and to increase them by 50 cents per hundredweight for a three-month period starting April 1, 1989.

Another provision would encourage farmers to plant soybeans and sunflowers, as well as oats, in the 1989 crop year.