HYDE-SMITH CHEERS RELEASE OF SENATE FARM BILL 2.0 LANGUAGE

HYDE-SMITH CHEERS RELEASE OF SENATE FARM BILL 2.0 LANGUAGE

Hyde-Smith Wins Included in Draft Legislation that Focuses on the People Who Feed America

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today cheered the Senate Agriculture Committee release of Farm Bill 2.0, legislative text that sets the stage for giving agricultural producers and rural communities modernized federal policies to help them compete well into the future.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) released legislative text that includes more than 100 individual agriculture and rural development bills introduced in the 119th Congress by Hyde-Smith and her Republican and Democrat colleagues. It builds on the Farm Bill 1.0 farm safety net provisions enacted last year as part of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.

"The release of the Farm Bill 2.0 discussion draft is an important step toward getting the Senate to pass a much-needed and complete farm bill that builds on the ag wins in last year's Working Families Tax Cuts Act," Hyde-Smith said. "There have been significant economic and global changes since the 2018 Farm Bill was enacted, and there is an urgent need for us to give our farmers and rural communities the new tools and certainty they need to compete and grow. I know that's what producers in Mississippi and from around the country have told me for a long time."

"I appreciate all the work that went into this legislation by Chairman Boozman and the committee. I look forward to continuing to work with them to move this process toward a committee markup and Senate passage," Hyde-Smith added.

In general, the budget-neutral Farm Bill 2.0 discussion draft legislation would:

• Strengthen the farm safety net, modernize conservation programs, expand support for specialty crop and seafood producers, promote American-grown products, and improve forest management.
• Support rural communities by boosting local and regional food processing, expand access to capital and infrastructure investments, improve rural health and mental health services, enhance safe drinking water, and increase broadband connectivity.
• Strengthen long-term U.S. agriculture competitiveness by modernizing farm financing, expanding market opportunities, investing in research and innovation, supporting specialty crop advancements, and enhancing safeguards against foreign threats to U.S. farmland and food supply chains.

Hyde-Smith, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, sponsored and supported several provisions included in the Farm Bill 2.0, among them:

• The Rural Water System Disaster Preparedness and Assistance Act (S.1019), which establishes a USDA emergency preparedness and response technical assistance program to provide grants to rural water associations to improve the ability of rural water and wastewater systems to prepare for and respond to natural disasters or other extreme weather events.
• The Middle Mile for Rural America Act, which is a five-year reauthorization of the USDA Rural Utilities Service middle-mile infrastructure program to help connect rural communities to high-speed internet.
• The Okhissa Lake Rural Economic Development Land Conveyance Act, which directs the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain U.S. Forest Service acreage to the state-affiliated Scenic Rivers Development Alliance in support of a rural economic development project at Okhissa Lake in southwest Mississippi.
• The Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions (DIRECT) Act (S.3099), which would create new opportunities for online direct-to-consumer meat and poultry sales for producers, processors, and small meat markets by allowing for the interstate internet sales of certain state-inspected meat and poultry.

An overview of Farm Bill 2.0 is available here.

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