Jones co-sponsors disaster relief package for farmers

Published 5:07 pm Wednesday, February 27, 2019

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, partnered with a slate of Republican colleagues to introduce a disaster relief package to benefit farmers who suffered crop damage as a result of Hurricane Michael.

According to a press release from Jones’ office, the measure has the backing of President Donald Trump.

“In Alabama, we’ve seen our fair share of hurricanes, tornadoes and other severe weather over the years, but that doesn’t mean it gets any easier to either experience a disaster or to rebuild after one,” Jones said. “This bipartisan legislation will help Alabama farmers who were hard hit by Hurricane Michael.”

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The measure provides $13.6 billion in disaster relief funding for farmers impacted by the storm and an additional $600 million in nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico.

“Our farmers and rural communities cannot wait any longer for disaster relief,” said Sen. David Perdue, R-GA, one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “For some Georgia farmers, the timing of assistance will determine whether they put a crop in the ground ever again.”

Perdue noted that the bill is the fulfillment of a promise made by the president that he would support farmers across the country who suffered the devastation wrought by the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to ever make landfall in the United States.

“Now, it is up to Congress to follow through and pass this critical, bipartisan bill,” Perdue said.

The bipartisan measure also provides for “critical agriculture disaster relief” for farmers, development grants for rural communities, assistance for veterans’ health facilities and military construction projects, emergency funds for timber, watershed and wastewater infrastructure and restoration of highways, aviation facilities and other transit projects impacted by Hurricane Michael or other natural disasters.