Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says the supplemental funding bill under consideration by the U.S. Senate would provide farmers $11.1 billion in emergency relief.
“It buys the nation the security that we need, and it buys us time to deconstruct and then reconstruct a new system, putting our farmers and ranchers first,” she says.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Rollins asked lawmakers to fund $10 billion in temporary economic assistance for row crop and specialty crop producers, and $1.1 billion for catastrophic freeze losses in 2026.
“There’s a lot of farmers, a lot of producers who are really hurting, not just in Florida and not just from the freeze,” she says.
During his testimony, South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds said farmers need additional financial assistance, but they also need access to year-round E15.
“Giving consumers the option to choose a higher ethanol blend would increase domestic fuel production, expand markets for corn growers, reduce reliance on foreign energy sources, and provide families with lower-cost options at the pump,” he says.
The Trump administration’s supplemental funding request is for $87.6 billion, with most of the funding for the Department of Defense and the Iran war.
