[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 200 (Thursday, December 22, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10080-S10081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            DISASTER RELIEF

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I have historically supported disaster 
assistance to farmers and others who experience losses due to no fault 
of their own.
  However, I had to vote no on Senator Scott's disaster relief 
standalone amendment. As a lifelong family farmer and taxpayer 
watchdog, I have fought for many years to close loopholes that have 
allowed some farming operations to exploit Federal farm payments at 
taxpayer expense.
  Congress has been generous when it comes to supporting farmers. 
Farmers have federally subsidized crop insurance, commodity payments, 
and supplemental disaster payments. Farmers also had access to Market 
Facilitation Program during the Trump administration and Coronavirus 
Food Assistance payments in the past couple years.
  The Scott amendment would remove any payment limit to the disaster 
supplemental payments. This is a dangerous precedent to set. This 
amendment would release the spigot of disaster payments to wealthy 
farmers without regard to how much total assistance we are providing, 
which could mean less funding for family farmers who really need the 
help most.

[[Page S10081]]

  I want a strong farm safety net program that helps farmers weather 
downturns in the market and survive natural disasters, but I do not 
want an unending stream of payments with no caps.
  This amendment aims to help large farms get large bailouts while 
small farmers are left behind. Instead of fundamentally changing market 
dynamics, we should work together to make sure small and medium sized 
farmers do not get left behind in farm payment programs. This is 
especially true as we go into farm bill discussions in the next 
Congress.

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