WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) can deliver disaster assistance faster, including improving Farm Service Agency (FSA) processing.
Fischer’s questioning:
Fischer: Secretary Rollins, it is good to see you. I want to thank you again for taking the time to visit Nebraska in March to survey the Morrill fire damage and meet with first responders and producers impacted by the wildfire.
As you saw firsthand, Nebraska has been experiencing the largest wildfires in state history, with over 800,000 acres burned. To have you there sent a good message to the people and communities that are suffering. I know your team is working to deliver disaster assistance as quickly and efficiently as possible.
For years after wildfires, we have heard frustrations from producers that applying for assistance after a natural disaster can be complicated and time-consuming.
They have shared with my office that they are required to use a specific size of t-posts to receive federal assistance, but their area was completely out of those posts due to a surge in demand post-fire.
I do have a bill for that. We were able to get it passed last month by unanimous consent here in the Senate.
As we are looking at so many of these programs, Madam Secretary, could you discuss how programs and FSA processes can be improved so we can get that assistance out the door more quickly? And are there ways Congress can be more helpful with that?
Rollins: That was one of, perhaps, the worst disasters in Nebraska’s history; the largest fire in Nebraska’s history, the eighth largest in American history. Because it was in more rural America, it didn’t get the focus and the amplification that it needed.
But, my goodness, the devastation to our ranchers and farmers that were in that part of Nebraska is real. We’re talking about losing generations of cattle farms because they’re not going to be able to graze because the land has been burned at least for 18 months or so.
But also, the pioneering spirit and the love of farming, ranching, of God, of country, and of State was so inspiring to me. I’ve stayed in touch with all the farmers that I met. I gave them my direct email. I said, “email me if you have any issues getting the funding…”
I got an email from a farmer that also digs water wells, and he said the funding is coming through to dig whole new wells, but we don’t need to dig new wells. We just need new component parts. But under the current way the rules are written…we can’t get that, and that’s the kind of thing that I sent over to Aubrey Bettencourt, who’s our incredible chief at the NRCS.
I’ve given carte blanche to our FSA executive director on the ground in Nebraska. You work seven days a week, 20 hours a day with these farmers to get them what they need. If you’re hearing differently, please let me know. We’ve given our FSA leads in all these states with the disasters, hopefully the ownership, to be able to go out and make some of these decisions so they’re not strung up in bureaucracy.
Background:
The hearing was convened by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies to review the president’s fiscal year 2027 budget request for the respective agencies.
