[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 10 (Tuesday, February 8, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S491-S492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HUTCHINSON:
  S. 2039. A bill to amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 
Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide emergency 
loans to poultry producers to rebuild chicken houses destroyed by 
disasters; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.


               poultry farmer disaster relief act of 2000

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, last month we had a very serious, 
severe snow and ice storm in Arkansas. It brought life in Arkansas to a 
halt. Schools and businesses closed, airports, including the Little 
Rock Airport, were snowed in, and highways were littered with hundreds 
of stranded motorists. It was not too unlike the situation we had in 
the Nation's Capital, except it blanketed the entire State of Arkansas. 
Fortunately, there were very few human fatalities that were reported, 
but Arkansas's poultry farmers and the poultry industry suffered very 
heavy losses. Snow and ice built up on poultry houses across the State, 
and the sheer weight caused the roofs on almost 800 poultry houses to 
collapse, killing an estimated 10.5 million chickens.
  Dennis Richie, a poultry farmer in Nashville, AR, had six poultry 
houses the morning of Thursday, January 27. By Friday evening, half of 
his houses were destroyed, along with the income he needs to provide 
for his family.
  Hubert Hardin, another poultry farmer near Nashville, AR, and a 
single parent, lost all of his poultry houses in the storm. That means 
fewer options for him in supporting his family, his children.
  The poultry industry is a pillar of Arkansas's agricultural industry 
and one of my State's leading employers. These losses represent a very 
real danger to my constituents and to Arkansas's economy. That is why, 
today, I am introducing the Poultry Farmer Disaster Relief Act of 2000.
  This bill would amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 
to allow a loosening of the restrictions currently in place for 
emergency loans through FSA. It would allow active poultry producers 
who were previously ineligible for insurance to apply for emergency 
loans through FSA. The current law prohibits growers whose structures 
were uninsured from receiving these low-interest loans. If the 
individuals did not seek insurance and chose to risk not insuring their 
structures, they would not qualify.
  Under the bill I am introducing, these folks, who tried to get 
insurance, tried to do the responsible thing, tried to do the right 
thing and were unable to get insurance, would be allowed to qualify for 
these low-interest loans. This act will also allow growers whose 
structures were insured to apply for the same low-interest loans to 
cover the difference between what the houses were insured for and the 
cost of rebuilding their structures to current industry standards. It 
is very important for them to be able to do that. The need for 
upgrading poultry houses comes from the new regulations within the 
industry. Many poultry producers must increase the size of their houses 
and improve the safety of their facilities to meet these new 
regulations.
  Without the availability of these new low-interest loans to cover the 
difference, FSA officials in Arkansas estimate almost half of the 
growers who lost houses will not be able to rebuild, that is, half of 
the poultry growers would be out of the business and unable to rebuild 
unless we pass this legislation. Currently, the FSA requires those 
seeking these emergency loans to prove they are unable to obtain 
sufficient credit elsewhere before the loans are approved.
  Due to the severity of the destruction and the impact it could have 
on poultry producers throughout Arkansas, this bill waives that 
requirement, should there be a disaster designation

[[Page S492]]

from the President. This would allow the victims of this storm to apply 
for and receive aid in the most expeditious manner possible. Finally, 
this bill would require farmers who receive these FSA loans to insure 
the new structures.
  Poultry farmers in Arkansas are critical to the survival of the 
State's agricultural economy. Losses such as those suffered last month 
not only create financial hardships for the growers, but dramatic 
disruptions for poultry processors.
  I ask my colleagues to look favorably upon this relief bill. The 
poultry processors and growers in Arkansas and across this country 
deserve that. It certainly is in an area where we had a natural 
disaster that has affected literally thousands of individuals now in 
the State. This is a compassionate act and something I trust we will 
act upon in an expeditious manner.

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