Bipartisan legislation to hasten federal disaster relief to America’s agriculture producers is headed to the president’s desk to be signed into law, according to bill supporters U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) and U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE).
“This is great news for farmers and ranchers in Nebraska who suffered devastating losses from wildfires this spring,” Sen. Fischer said on Tuesday. “Producers need this assistance as soon as possible, and we’ve helped make sure bureaucracy doesn’t stand in the way. I thank my colleagues in both chambers of Congress for understanding the urgency of getting this done.”
The Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act, S. 629, which Sen. Fischer sponsored in February 2025 with lead cosponsor U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), received approval June 23 from the U.S. House of Representatives, which voted 368-19 to send the bill to Trump’s desk. The U.S. Senate passed the measure on March 24.
Rep. Smith in March 2025 cosponsored the identical H.R. 1011, which is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA).
The measure will expedite ag producers’ access to federal disaster relief under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP), which provide financial and technical assistance to repair and restore land.
“I was proud to cosponsor this common-sense piece of legislation, which will ensure that the Emergency Conservation Program eligibility can be triggered faster in response to a natural disaster — like the wildfires in my district — and provide much-needed flexibility for producers as they begin to rebuild,” Rep. Smith said from the House floor following the chamber’s vote.
“Nebraskans are resilient, but they shouldn’t have to navigate unnecessary red tape while recovering from disaster,” he added. “With the final passage of this bill we took a meaningful step towards providing producers with the timely support they need to rebuild, restore, and recover. I look forward to seeing President Trump sign it into law.”
The ECP and the EFRP help reduce the burden of natural disasters, but are often slow to respond to wildfires, floods, and other disasters, leaving producers to face delays and red tape when trying to access financial assistance, according to the lawmakers, who said the delays force many producers to put off needed repair work.
The bill reforms the programs to specifically give producers impacted by disasters the option to receive an advance on cost-sharing relief that is based on existing USDA estimates, and reframes eligibility for relief from wildfire damage to include any wildfire caused or spread due to natural causes, as well as wildfires caused by the federal government.