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Summary:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers several permanently authorized programs to help farmers recover financially from a natural disaster, including federal crop insurance, the noninsured assistance program, and emergency disaster loans. Since 1988, Congress has regularly made supplemental financial assistance available to farmers and ranchers, primarily in the form of crop disaster payments and emergency livestock assistance. The FY2007 Iraq war supplemental appropriations bill (P.L. 110-28, H.R. 2206) contains an estimated $3.0 billion in emergency agricultural assistance. The total includes an estimated $1.55 billion in crop loss assistance and $1.23 billion in livestock aid, compensating agricultural producers for losses in any one of the last three years -- 2005, 2006, or early 2007. The Administration originally had opposed any supplemental farm disaster assistance that was not offset by equivalent spending reductions, but ultimately accepted a smaller package of farm assistance, without offsets, as part of the enacted agreement.
