McGovern feels ‘victorious’ after $220M in relief for NE farmers included in recent congressional spending bill
Published: 12-27-2024 7:00 AM |
WASHINGTON — The roller coaster ride last week over a down-to-the-wire congressional spending bill ended on a high note for U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, who expressed victory that some $220 million in federal money will soon be in the hands of New England farmers — including many in his district — impacted by natural disasters.
“We fought like hell,” McGovern said in a Dec. 21 phone interview not long after Congress passed spending legislation that averted a government shutdown.
McGovern said there was plenty of flip-flopping leading up to Saturday’s vote over whether those funds would be included as part of the bill’s disaster funding supplemental. That roller coaster was engineered by President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who successfully lobbied to defeat an initial bipartisan deal. The final version stripped out some provisions championed by Democrats, who accused Republicans of caving in to pressure from Musk.
The bill, coined the American Relief Act and annually dubbed the Christmas tree bill, authorizes the next three months of the federal government’s spending and provides disaster relief to hurricane victims and farmers. According to the Associated Press, the revised bill was overwhelmingly approved at votes of 366-34 in the House, and 85-11 in the Senate before receiving the president’s signature last Saturday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who was under heavy scrutiny for not providing an initial bill favored by Trump, said after the bill passed that, “We also took care of our farmers, many of whom are on the brink of collapse.” Other Republicans echoed those comments.
McGovern, however, who fought for funding for farmers in the Northeast alongside his Democratic colleague Rosa Delauro of Connecticut, says there is a difference between the farmers he fought for and those being fought for by Republicans in Congress.
“I fought so that small- and medium-sized farmers aren’t left behind,” he said, adding that his Republican colleagues don’t care about the people he represents.
The funds McGovern successfully garnered will be made available through the United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) for farmers who qualify for disaster relief. The $220 million will be distributed as block grants to compensate producers for expenses related to crop and infrastructure losses.
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“Republicans were prepared to turn their backs on small farmers,” he said, adding that what the Republicans offered were “typical” subsidies and breaks for corporate farms.
McGovern has been pulling for funding for farmers especially since July 2023, when excessive flooding severely impacted the Connecticut River Valley, and at that time assisted in distributing $3.2 million raised through philanthropic efforts.
According to a statement from McGovern, Massachusetts is home to 7,100 farms; 2,000 of those are in Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties, where the majority of farms impacted by the flooding are located.
The federal government and the state also responded in the aftermath of the flooding. On July 31, 2023, the USDA issued a natural disaster designation for seven counties in Massachusetts, and extended emergency loan opportunities to impacted producers, while also distributing $20 million toward those impacted.
McGovern, who routinely engages with farmers, said that the agricultural community is also on the front lines of climate change’s impact, and that in addition to the flooding of the Connecticut River, farmers are also battling the effects of those impacts, which have included invasive bug species, abnormal temperature patterns, and other natural disaster events over the past few years.
Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com