The House and Senate are on recess this week, but work is ramping back up to finalize 2021 legislation before the New Year begins.
Build Back Better
Last week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he cannot support the House-passed version of the $1.75 trillion social spending package that would have extended child tax credits and provided new subsidies for childcare, preschool, and elder care.
“My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face,” Manchin issued in a statement. “I cannot take that risk with a staggering debt of more than $29 trillion and inflation taxes that are real and harmful to every hard-working American at the gasoline pumps, grocery stores and utility bills with no end in sight.”
Pro Farmer policy analyst Jim Wiesemeyer doesn’t know “how and when the bill will pass,” but believes the BBB will go through once it has been scaled-back to remove items like childcare credits that he thinks will be included in separate bills.
WHIP+
AgriTalk hosted USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in late November to discuss the House passage of the BBB. In the episode, Vilsack said the$10 billion Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) payments could be sent by the end of 2021.
Wiesemeyer says WHIP+ is the “worst implemented program” he’s seen come from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) due to the delayed payout. He does, however, see these payments hitting bank accounts by early 2022.
As it stands, the $10 billion in disaster assistance will include:
• $9.25 billion in disaster assistance to aid producers who suffered losses due to droughts, hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other qualifying disasters. The funding will extend WHIP+ to cover losses in calendar years 2020 and 2021.
• $750 million for livestock producers for losses incurred during 2021 due to drought or wildfire. This disaster assistance, the first specifically for livestock producers since 2008, will build on top of existing farm bill programs for livestock producers.
Details on the USDA’s plan and timeline for distribution have not yet been released.
