Many of you are eager for an update on the status of the provision in the budget deal that would kill crop insurance. 

The bad news is, the situation is not yet resolved. The good news is, you are having a huge impact. What can you do now?  

We are being asked to double up and keep up the pressure, pounding the point home that this language must be stripped out of the bill or the bill must be defeated. 

You should contact Members you already have contacted and reach out to others in your state. If you have friends, relatives, or colleagues in other congressional districts, ask them to weigh in as well. Chairman Conaway and Ranking Member Peterson have been collecting signatories on a letter and are trying to get as many signatories as possible. The list of Members who have signed on the letter is at the bottom of this email along with the letter. If your congressman (not senators) is not on the letter, please call the member and ask why they are not.  And then strongly urge that he sign.  

One way to introduce a fresh talking point is to send them the column written yesterday by Chairman Combest. It lays out clearly what is at stake and how we got to this point. This is not a mere attempt to save $3B. This is a stealth effort to kill crop insurance. You can find the column here: How the budget deal harms farmers, costs jobs and kills crop insurance. 

Again, here is how to contact your congressmen and senators. Go to http://capwiz.com/yo-demo/dbq/officials/. Enter the Congressman or Senator's name in the space provided and click go to find the Member. Then click on the staff tab to identify the Agriculture LA. The email format for House staffers is: firstname.lastname@mail.house.gov. For Senate staff it is firstname_lastname@senatorslastname.senate.gov, for example John Doe in Senator Smith’s office would be John_Doe@Smith.Senate.gov. We would also urge that you call the main telephone line and leave a similar message.

We greatly appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to stand up and fight for what's right. 

Please holler with questions. 

The CSA Crew

 

K. Michael Conaway

Collin C. Peterson

Eric A. “Rick” Crawford

Frank D. Lucas

Jason Smith

Kevin Cramer

Scott DesJarlais

Stephen Fincher

Rod Blum

Filemon Vela

Tim Huelskamp

Trent Kelly

Tom Emmer

Doug LaMalfa

Blake Farenthold

Ryan Zinke

Ted Poe

Austin Scott

Adrian Smith

Randy Neugebauer

John R. Moolenaar

Adam Kinzinger

Tom Rooney

Ralph Abraham

Dan Newhouse

Rick Allen

Steve King

Roger Williams

Randy Weber

Corrine Brown

Marlin A. Stutzman

Earl L. “Buddy” Carter

David Rouzer

Ted S. Yoho

Bill Flores

Sean Duffy

Sanford Bishop

Steve Pearce

Chris Collins Rodney Davis Tom Rice Bennie Thompson Charles Boustany Bob Gibbs

 

Dear­­­____:
 
It has come to our attention that the “Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015” contains a provision that violates our pledge not to reopen the 2014 Farm Bill and would inflict serious injury on America’s farmers and ranchers at a time when net farm income is projected to be down by 53 percent over the past two years.
 
Section 201 of the bill is widely expected to end Federal Crop Insurance, which is critical to producers and lenders alike. 
 
Specifically, the provision proposes to reduce rates of return to crop insurance companies from a gross of about 14.5 percent down to a gross of 8.9 percent.  However, this does not tell the real story.  Since 2011 actual returns to companies have averaged about 5 percent, and factoring in costs, the average returns are much closer to zero.  The reduction contained in section 201 would kill private sector delivery which is responsible for the success of Federal Crop Insurance.
 
Not even two years have passed since we made a commitment with the passage of a bipartisan 5-year farm bill that included $23 billion in savings. The current Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015 breaks that promise.
 
Nobody consulted the Agriculture Committees of Congress when this provision was included in the bill, the details of which were not posted until the early morning hours of Tuesday, October 27.  Instead, a reckless provision of devastating consequences was quite literally inserted in a backroom in the middle of the night.     
 
This provision must be removed from the bill.  If it is not stripped from the bill, we will have no choice but to work to defeat this measure.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
__________/s/________________    _____________/s/_______________
Chairman K. Michael Conaway          Ranking Member Collin Peterson