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AS USDA DELIVERS AG AID TO FARMERS, HYDE-SMITH PUSHES FOR STRONGER FARM SAFETY NET IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’
Miss. Senator Touts Ongoing Budget Reconciliation Process as Subcommittee Reviews FY26 USDA Budget
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) praised U.S. Department of Agriculture efforts to get congressionally-approved aid to farmers, but warned that many producers will quit farming without a stronger farm safety net built into a new Farm Bill.
Hyde-Smith issued a call to use the budget reconciliation process to lay the groundwork for a better farm safety net at a Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to review the FY2026 USDA budget request.
“I just want to say this to everybody in the room – Congress needs to address the outdated and inadequate farm safety net during the budget reconciliation process. There are a lot of farmers in Mississippi and across this country who are not going to be able to continue unless we do address this. It is so concerning for me,” Hyde-Smith said. “Addressing one aspect of the Farm Bill – SNAP – in reconciliation, without making improvements to the farm safety net, will make it extremely difficult to pass a Farm Bill.”
“American farmers, as you well know, desperately want a new and improved Farm Bill, and I think it’s our job to improve the Farm Bill. So, let’s give that to them by addressing the safety net in reconciliation. I can’t scream that enough,” said Hyde-Smith, who also serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee that is assigned to craft the ag-related portion of a budget reconciliation package – the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” sought by President Trump.
Hyde-Smith believes updating the farm safety net set in the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills would help mitigate the need for Congress to approve more ad hoc emergency packages for producers, like the $10 billion now being delivered to producers in Mississippi and across the nation.
Hyde-Smith praised Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for implementing the streamlined Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) application process, which has provided $117 million in support to farmers in Mississippi to date. She also questioned Rollins about the delivery of a separate $20 billion in the disaster relief payments to producers who suffered weather-related losses in 2023 and 2024.
“I’ve had my farmers call and thank me for that, but through the USDA’s Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, or the ECAP that you’ve referenced, many farmers are able to farm this crop this year that literally they would not be able to do otherwise,” Hyde-Smith said. “When can we expect USDA to distribute the remaining disaster funds for 2023 and 2024 for the weather-related losses? Those are the questions we’re being asked right now.”
Rollins testified that the USDA should open a disaster relief portal for the $20 billion before the end of May to begin processing applications for 2023 and 2024 weather-related losses.
“The portal should open within a matter of weeks, before the end of the month, to allow those grant applications to begin being processed,” Rollins said. “Our goal is timely, efficient, and turn it around quickly. With the first tranche, that first $10 billion ECAP, we were turning it around in two to three days, which I believe is unprecedented for any government program but certainly for USDA. Our goal is to have the same sort of speed, timeliness, and hopefully effectiveness on the second launch as well.”
Because the USDA and Federal Emergency Management Agency have certified that Mississippi experienced multiple types of natural disasters in 2023 and 2024, producers in Mississippi should be able to apply for assistance due to damages caused by freezes, tornadoes, severe storms, flooding, high winds, and drought.
As part of the budget review, Hyde-Smith also asked Rollins to commit to working with the subcommittee on any proposed reductions to the Farm Service Agency (FSA) personnel. Rollins responded, “Especially with all the challenges and the headwinds against our producers, we have to keep those front-liners in place as we’re moving these projects out.”
In addition, Hyde-Smith submitted questions for the record regarding whether the increased budget request for the Food Safety and Inspection Service would be applied to more rigorous USDA catfish inspections and whether USDA would use any additional funding from Congress for Natural Resources Conservation Service watershed operations, a program important to communities and organizations across Mississippi.
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