| WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Marion Berry (D-AR, 1st) announced today that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has decided to put its FSA Tomorrow plan on hold after receiving significant pressure from Congress. As a vocal opponent of the FSA Tomorrow plan, Congressman Berry has cosponsored legislation to put the plan on hold until reauthorization of the next Farm Bill and has sent a letter to the U.S. House Agriculture Committee requesting hearings on plans to restructure the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
"Today's announcement finally gives the agriculture community something to celebrate," said Congressman Berry. "We stood up for our farmers and producers and convinced USDA to back-off its attempt to downsize FSA offices. This is a great victory for Arkansas – and one we desperately need."
USDA made its decision to put FSA Tomorrow on hold just two days before the U.S. Senate was scheduled to hold hearings on the proposal. Congressmen Berry and Ike Skelton (D-MO) requested these hearings so Congress could learn more about USDA's attempt to restructure the Farm Service Agency. The U.S. Senate immediately cancelled the hearing after learning that USDA intends to delay the FSA Tomorrow proposal.
The announcement to put FSA Tomorrow on hold came in a letter today from USDA's Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services to the Chairmen of the U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committees. In the letter, the Undersecretary states, "We do appreciate the concerns that you and other Members of Congress have raised. We are thus prepared to set aside the FSA Tomorrow approach and timetable but do believe that continued dialogue and comprehensive review are still necessary."
"As we work to prepare the next Farm Bill, we need to strengthen the agricultural link between Washington and rural America," said Congressman Berry. "This means protecting the FSA offices and empowering our farmers to get involved in farm policy. The more noise we make, the greater our chances of convincing this Administration that our farmers provide a critical service to America."
Congressman Berry has also encouraged USDA to endorse his bill, H.R. 3702 the Agriculture Assistance Act of 2005, which will provide farmers with relief above and beyond any funding the state will receive from a federal disaster declaration. The legislation would give farmers who live in a disaster region the choice of either an additional half-payment above the amount they received in 2005 from the Farm Bill or payment based on yield loss. |
