Lincoln's ag disaster money dropped from Senate bill will come from somewhere else

Lincoln's ag disaster money dropped from Senate bill will come from somewhere else

By Stewart Doan

© Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.

Washington, July 29 – Senate Ag Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) pulled her $1.5 billion ag disaster provision from a pending Small Business Jobs bill on Thursday after the Obama administration agreed to take money from existing programs to fund the payments to eligible farmers and ranchers.

“While I firmly believe agricultural producers are rural small businesses, it was clear the Republicans pulled out all the stops to block my legislation,” Lincoln said in a statement to Agri-Pulse.

“In exchange for pulling ag disaster from the small business bill, I have secured an agreement from both Majority Leader Reid and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and have their commitment to deliver critical agriculture disaster assistance administratively in the next two weeks.

Lincoln declined to say which account(s) the money would be taken from. She simply told Agri-Pulse that “We're looking to find places, but we'll find them, don't worry.”
 
Look for more on this story in the August 4 edition of Agri-Pulse.

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