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Monday, March 01, 2021

Democrats strip from Covid relief bill derecho aid for farmers, help for seafood processors

The House passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief and stimulus package this weekend but took out a few provisions aimed at helping farmers and the seafood industry first.

"Democratic committee leaders quietly stripped out language in the bill that would have authorized federal payments to farmers who lost crops to natural disasters including 'high winds or derechos,' like the powerful wind storm that flattened Midwestern cornfields last August," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's Weekly Agriculture. The winds in last summer's derecho were as strong as a Level 2 hurricane and did billions of dollars of damage to farms and homes.

"In another late change, Democrats on Friday cut out references to seafood processing facilities and vessels in the agricultural aid section," McCrimmon reports. "They also removed “'seafood' from a provision directing the Agriculture Department to purchase and redistribute various farm goods to needy families."

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