NOTICIAS

Miami, FL –U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement today after the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it will make disaster payments of up to $2.36 billion, as provided by Congress, to help America’s farmers and ranchers recover from hurricanes and wildfires. Earlier this week, Rubio spoke directly with Secretary Perdue regarding the status of disaster relief and also urged him to effectively implement disaster funding.

“I want to thank Secretary Perdue for maintaining his commitment to me to work quickly to set up this important disaster relief program. It is good to hear that compensation will be based on individual producers’ actual losses, and that USDA will look to advance payments to eligible growers. USDA is right to incentivize personal responsibility through the purchase of crop insurance, however some crop policies work better than others. USDA should not punish citrus growers and others who understandably forgo purchasing higher levels of coverage of a poor insurance product. As the Secretary finalizes the details of the 2017 WHIP plan, I continue to urge him to avoid arbitrary limitations on disaster relief so we can get Florida’s farms, groves, and nurseries back to full operation as quickly as possible.”