Senators and representatives from states hit by Hurricane Helene are pushing for the swift issuing of federal disaster relief resources for affected agricultural producers.
Immediately following the hurricane, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper wrote to members of the state’s congressional delegation, seeking federal aid.
The entire delegation – including House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member David Scott – in turn wrote to the leadership of both the House and Senate with those same concerns.
“To prevent deep and lasting economic damage to the agricultural industry in the southeastern United States, it is imperative that congress make appropriations as soon as possible upon the completion of damage assessments to fully fund unmet agricultural disaster relief needs in our states and across the nation,” the lawmakers' letter read.
The Georgia delegation was joined by other federal lawmakers from other states affected by the hurricane, including Kentucky’s Morgan McGarvey; Tennessee’s Diana Harshbarger; Florida’s Darren Soto, Maxwell Frost, Kathy Castor, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Jared Moskowitz and Fredrica Wilson; and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, Don Davis, Deborah Ross, Greg Murphy, Kathy Manning, Dan Bishop, Chuck Edwards, Alma Adams, Wiley Nickel and Jeff Jackson.
While the letter stated that the affected states included Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, no federal officials from South Carolina signed the letter. However, the state’s two senators, Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham wrote to the Senate leadership seeking an appropriations bill “to meet the unmet needs in our states and address the scope and scale of destruction experienced by our constituents.” The agriculture sector was not specifically mentioned in that letter, which was also signed by other southeastern state senators.
Georgia Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff signed both letters.
Separately, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, also pushed for emergency assistance for agricultural producers.
“This was a horrible blow to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities across the Southeast just as the harvest season was getting underway for many crops,” Stabenow stated. As chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, I’m focused on ensuring that these farmers and ranchers get the emergency assistance they need to get back on their feet as soon as possible.”
