Newhouse bill to provide relief for agricultural producers signed into law

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) commended President Joe Biden for signing into law his bipartisan crops coverage bill as part of the larger continuing resolution to fund federal agencies through Dec. 3.  

“I am glad to see this much-needed legislation make its way to the president’s desk and be signed into law,” Rep. Newhouse said on Oct. 1.

The newly signed continuing resolution (CR) — Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, H.R. 5305 — provides $10 billion in federal emergency supplemental appropriations, including for the 2020 WHIP+ Reauthorization Act, H.R. 267, which Rep. Newhouse cosponsored in January with bill sponsor Mike Thompson (D-CA).

Rep. Newhouse’s bill expands the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) to include coverage for losses of crops, including smoke-tainted wine grapes, due to wildfires occurring in calendar year 2020 and 2021. Under current law, the program provides disaster payments to agricultural producers who suffered crop, tree, bush, and vine losses resulting from hurricanes, wildfires and other qualifying natural disasters that occurred in the 2018 and 2019 calendar years, according to the congressional record bill summary.

“Producers across central Washington and the West are all too familiar with the damage that wildfires, smoke, excessive heat and drought can do to their lives and livelihood,” said Rep. Newhouse. “WHIP+ is a necessary resource for many producers as they continue to recover from this year’s devastating wildfires, excessive heat, and drought conditions in our region, while facing new threats every day.”

Rep. Newhouse in November 2020 first introduced the WHIP+ Reauthorization Act, H.R. 8790, which stalled in the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. The reintroduced version, H.R. 267, passed the committee on Sept. 20 before being included in the CR that Biden signed into law last week. The CR runs from the start of the fiscal year, Oct. 1, through Dec. 3, which gives Congress nine more weeks to pass a fiscal 2022 budget plan for the military and the rest of the federal government.