Here's the American News report about John Thune's appearance in Aberdeen yesterday. I went to this event and think the AAN pretty much captures it. I will say I always remain impressed by Thune's ability to speak to an audience and his command of vast amounts of information. Here's a snippet from the AAN:
Thune spoke to a group of about 70 mostly agricultural producers on Tuesday afternoon at Hub City Livestock in Aberdeen. He said having a disaster title in the farm bill would make more sense than having to somehow appropriate funding to cover natural disasters every year or two.
The last disaster title in the farm bill was in 1996, Thune said.
Congress is authoring the next farm bill. The House has passed its version. The Senate will take up the issue after it returns from the August recess.
The current farm bill expires at the end of September. Thune said work on the next version won't be done by then, so that farm bill will have to be extended. He hopes the next farm bill will be finished by the end of the year, estimating there's a better than 50-50 chance of that happening.
Thune said that, as far as commodity and conservation payments go, the House farm bill looks good. But, he said, it doesn't have a disaster title, something he will work for in the Senate version.
Asked where the funding would come from to cover the increased cost, Thune said he thinks there is between $4 billion and $5 billion to get the provision started. That's not enough, he said, but simply having a disaster clause in the legislation would be a step in the right direction.
"It'll be a tough balance to strike, but I still have some hope that we can get something," Thune said.
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