Thank you for all of your hard work and effort.  Your work paid off.

Although the crop insurance provision will remain in the debt ceiling bill, incoming Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have all three pledged to Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN) that the provision will be stripped out in the Omnibus Appropriations Bill expected to come before Congress this month or in December.

Importantly, under the agreement, the provision will be stripped out and with *NO* cuts from the Farm Bill or Crop Insurance to replace them.

Members of Congress woke up this morning to read front page headlines of how Chairman Conaway is leading the fight to protect crop insurance.

Moreover, Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Members Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who have also expressed strong opposition to the provision, are reportedly working to gain similar assurances from Senate leadership, with reports saying Chairman Roberts met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) this afternoon.

Reports indicate that the White House is also on board.

We hope that everybody receiving this email will politely flood Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) with heartfelt thanks for their truly heroic work.  Chairman Conaway dug his heels in early and would not relent until he won this commitment, and Rep. Peterson and many others backed his play.  

But, also vital was the role that each and every one of you played.  Had each of you just sat back and said it will get fixed in the omnibus instead of working like the dickens, we would not have had this win today. 

Your leadership made a huge difference.  We were told by Capitol Hill that they had never seen the likes of this grassroots effort, not even during the Farm Bill.  Offices were getting bombarded.  Even friendly ones who said they didn’t mind.  

In addition, please be sure to thank these Members who stood with Chairman Conaway and Mr. Peterson by signing the letter that said the provision must come out or they would work to defeat the bill:

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

Bob Gibbs

Bennie Thompson

Jackie Walorski

Charles Boustany

Michael McCaul

Bill Posey

David Young

Randy Hultgren

Mike Pompeo

Reid Ribble Mo Brooks Kevin Yoder Darin LaHood Todd Young Lynn Westmoreland

There are also other Members who, while they did not sign onto the letter, were working the issue hard on our behalf.  Some high profile examples include House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) who led efforts to iron out the agreement, plusHouse Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD), and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) who all backed Chairman Conaway and were tireless advocates in favorably resolving this issue.  They, too, should be thanked.

Members who signaled they wanted onto the letter before it was pulled back due to the agreement include:

Tom Cole

Randy Forbes

Candice Miller

Robert Hurt

John Ratcliffe

Mo Brooks

As a cautionary note, while this commitment is significant, a huge win, it is not done.  There is going to have to be a lot of work to complete the job.  Crazy groups that came out in support of the provision like EWG, Sustainable Ag, the R Street Institute, etc. are still going to be working to kill crop insurance.  In fact, just today, the usual suspects sent a letter to all 435 House Members.  You can read their hogwash below. 

So, between now and the Omnibus, we are going to have to continue to make our voices heard until the job is done and this issue is put to bed. 

Thank you for all that you did to make this agreement come together.  Again, I hope that you take time to thank these Members, particularly Chairman Conway and his crew for leading the fight.  They were heroic.

The CSA Crew  

----------------------------

Support the Common Sense Crop Insurance Reforms of the Bipartisan Budget Act

From: The Honorable Ron Kind
Sent By: Natalie.Mamerow@mail.house.gov
Date: 10/28/2015

Dear Colleague,

Reform to our federal crop insurance program is badly needed. 

In particular, the windfall profits being reaped by giant crop insurance companies need to be reduced. In recent years, the reinsurance agreement struck between USDA and the insurance industry has guaranteed insurance giants like ADM Crop Risk Services a 14 percent rate of return. 

At a time when many Americans are still struggling to recover from the recession, no industry should be guaranteed a 14 percent rate of return. 

Fortunately, Sec. 201 of H.R. 1314 would reduce to 8.9 percent the rate of return guaranteed to crop insurance companies, generating $3 billion in savings. These important reforms will not only strike a better deal for taxpayers but will have no impact on farmers and no impact on the number of companies who offer insurance to farmers. 

Contrary to misleading arguments being made by opponents of this important reform, reducing the windfall profits being reaped by some of the nation’s most successful business will have no impact on the cost of crop insurance policies being offered to farmers. 

Instead, Sec. 201 of H.R. 1314 will ensure that crop insurance giants pay a fair share of the indemnities being collected by farmers when farm revenues fall or crops fail. 

Large insurance companies have reported record earnings in recent years. According to CRS, crop insurance companies have reported underwriting gains in nine of the last ten years. Overall, total underwriting gains between 2003 and 2013 topped $12 billion. 

Now is the time to include long overdue reforms of the reinsurance agreement between USDA and the crop insurance industry. 

We urge you to support this common sense crop insurance reform in H.R. 1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Ron Kind                      Charlie Dent                  Rosa DeLauro            

Member of Congress     Member of Congress      Member of Congress

 

Earl Blumenauer                                 John J. Duncan, Jr.

Member of Congress                          Member of Congress