{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=5A6D684A-2761-41C3-A16C-6175DAAAA75A", "Heitkamp Statement on Farm Bill Negotiations Reaching Deadline", "2018-09-30", "2018", "2018-09", "Democrat", "House", "ND", "Heidi Heitkamp", "H001069", "www.heitkamp.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Farm Bill conference committee, today issued the following statement on the status of Farm Bill negotiations as the current bill is set to expire at midnight tonight.\r\nAfter the Senate passed a strong Farm Bill with historic and overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats, it's disappointing that House Republicans continue to push for partisan and regional provisions that have no chance of building the bipartisan coalition necessary to pass a final bill and give certainty to our farmers, ranchers, and rural America. Particularly at a time of turmoil in farm country due to the administration's trade war, it is also disappointing that the House took a break in August and much of September and has now adjourned until mid-November,\" said Heitkamp. \"Americans expect members of Congress to get to work and do their jobs, but passing a strong Farm Bill is clearly not the priority it should be for House Republicans who want to keep pushing partisan provisions including provisions that leave North Dakota farmers behind. We're working to make sure many of these farm programs are able to operate for another few months, but Congress is sending the wrong message to farmers and ranchers in the middle of harvest who desperately need certainty and are instead now being told they won't get it.Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow are working in good faith to get a deal done quickly, and we need House Republicans to commit to coming to the table to compromise so Congress can do its job to support farmers and ranchers. I'll continue to work toward passing a final bill as soon as possible, and House Republicans should join the Senate to put politics aside and get back to work on behalf of farm country.\r\nBackground\r\nHeitkamp helped secure Senate passage of a bipartisan Farm Bill, which passed by a historic margin of 86-11. The Senate Farm Billwas widely praised by North Dakota agriculture leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passeda partisan Farm Billalong party lines in June.\r\nThe bill includes many key provisions Heitkamp fought for to support North Dakota farmers,ranchers, and families, including her fix to the ARC-County program, her provisions to help young and beginning farmers, her priority to protect and improve crop insurance, and her proposal to help farmers and ranchers handle the stress of working in an industry as volatile as agriculture.\r\nProvisions Heitkamp successfully worked to include in the bipartisan 2018 Senate Farm Bill:\r\n \r\nHer bill to fix the ARC-County Program to help farmers when commodity prices fall to damaging levels. Heitkamp introduced her bipartisan billwith U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) in October 2017. It specifically responds to concerns from North Dakotans and would direct the Farm Service Agency to use the more widely-available data from the Risk Management Agency as the first choice in yield calculations so that county level data is more accurate and updated, calculate safety net payments so they reflect what's owed to producers in the physical counties where their farms are located, and make payments more accurate. The bill builds on Heitkamp's successful effort from 2015 when she got the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to allow farmers whose land is across multiple counties to have their ARC-CO payments recalculated so those payments reflect what's owed to them in the physical counties where their farms are located.\r\n \r\n \r\nHer Next Generation in Agriculture Act to provide funding and reform programs that help young and beginning farmers and ranchers enter and remain in the industry, build the next generation of farmers, and feed the country and the world.Heitkamp introduced her bipartisan billwith U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) earlier this year. It would provide permanent funding for beginning farmer and rancher training programs, create a permanent National Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coordinator and Agricultural Youth Coordinator at the USDA, direct state USDA offices to designate an employee as the state beginning farmer and rancher coordinator, and establish a next generation agriculture technology challenge competition. The average age of a farmer in North Dakota is 57 years old, according to USDA, and the percentage of new farmers has declined since 1982. Heitkamp's bill would help cultivate the next generation of farmers and support rural economies.\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\nHer priority to expand export opportunities for North Dakota agriculture producers.With 95 percent of the world's consumers living outside the U.S.,Heitkamp has been fighting to protect and expand export promotion programsto help North Dakota farmers sell to the world. She fought to make sure the Farm Bill would expand USDA programs to help farmers find new global markets for their goods.\r\n \r\n \r\nHer amendment to boost trade with Cuba.Heitkamp and Boozman successfully included their bipartisan amendmentto allow USDA to use its existing export market development programs to create, expand, and maintain a strong Cuban export market for U.S. agricultural producers and processors at no additional cost to U.S. taxpayers. This change in USDA policy would provide some needed relief from low American commodity prices by fostering a new, reliable trade relationship, boosting agricultural export revenue, and increasing export volume for American farmers and ranchers. This builds on Heitkamp's efforts to boost trade with Cuba going back to 2015, when she first introduced legislation to lift the ban on private banks and companies offering credit for agricultural exports to Cuba.\r\n \r\n \r\nHer efforts to support a foot and mouth disease vaccine bank.Heitkampfought to secure fundingin the Farm Bill for a new National Animal Disease Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Program, as well as National Animal and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank, with a priority put on foot-and-mouth disease. The threat of disease is a constant threat over a rancher's operations, and the need for a rapid response system is crucial for our food system to be able to address any outbreaks of disease such as foot and mouth. This vaccine bank will help protect North Dakota's livestock industry and our national food system.\r\n \r\n \r\nHer proposal to help farmers and ranchers in crisis.Heitkamp secured support for state departments of agriculture, state extension services, and non-profits to establish helplines, provide suicide prevention training for farm advocates, create support groups, and reestablish the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network. These provisions were included in thebipartisan FARMERS FIRST Act, which Heitkamp helped introduce in April to address the alarming rate of death by suicide among agricultural workers.\r\n \r\n \r\nHer reforms to make nutrition assistance more accessible in Indian Country.The Farm Bill includes a provision derived from Heitkamp'sTribal Food and Housing Security Actto help tribes like Spirit Lake provide nutrition assistance to low-income households and children who are at risk of going hungry. This provision waives most or all of the match requirement for administrative costs to run the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) programs, which many tribes use to provide healthy, affordable food options to low-income individuals and families. In Fiscal Year 2016, there were 5,661 participants receiving nutrition assistance from the FDPIR on North Dakota tribal lands.\r\n \r\n \r\nHer provision to support rural Native American communities.Heitkamp successfully included an amendment to establish a permanent Rural Development Tribal Technical Assistance Office to provide technical assistance across all areas of rural development funding. The provision, part of herTribal Food and Housing Security Actto ensure Native American communities are supported in the 2018 Farm Bill, would support rural business and community development, housing, rural infrastructure like electric and telecommunications services, and rural hospitals and health care.\r\n \r\n \r\nHer provision to provide greater certainty for the current Tribal Promise Zone designees, including the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe.Heitkamp successfully added this provision, which was part of the CROPS for Indian Country Act that she cosponsored, during markup to ensure that four Tribal Promise Zones continue to have access to resources and technical assistance from federal agency partners.\r\n \r\nIn addition to her work on the Farm Bill, Heitkamp has been successfully fighting to improve disaster assistance programs for North Dakota farmers and ranchers. Earlier this year,her bill to improve disaster assistance to livestock and honeybee producersby permanently removing the funding cap for the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP) wassigned into law.\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=5A6D684A-2761-41C3-A16C-6175DAAAA75A"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.61409517750144, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}