CARES Act

In an effort to connect more of Idaho to the Internet, Governor Brad Little recently signed Senate Bill 1199 into law. The legislation directs $45 million toward new investments in connectivity for underserved areas. This is in addition to the nearly $50 million made available for broadband investments last year ...

Late last week, the USDA announced a $42.3 million investment to help rural residents access health care and educational opportunities. USDA said rural areas are seeing higher infection and death rates related to COVID-19 due to several factors, including a much higher percentage of underlying conditions, difficulty accessing medical care, and lack of health insurance ...

Agriculture, like most industries, has struggled during the coronavirus pandemic in one way or another. And while some commodities, have fared worse than others, the same can be said for states, with some states reporting noticeable drops in Ag profits in 2020, and an increase in farm bankruptcies ...

It does not appear that Congress will take up a new coronavirus relief package before the November 3rd election, but a post-election deal with billions for agriculture and other sectors now appears much more likely. The Senate will vote this week on some $500 billion in relief, including more for Paycheck Protection for small businesses, unemployment, schools, and virus testing and tracing ... Re

The strain on emergency food resources across Washington is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. A Thursday webinar focused on the current challenges of providing healthy nutritious food for Washingtonians in need, and how those challenges could evolve into the future ...

It’s not often that all six of the Northwest Senators are on the same page. But as proven over and over, 2020 is not your typical year. Washington’s Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Idaho’s Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, and Oregon’s Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined bipartisan group of lawmakers calling on Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to provide financial assistance to wheat growers impacted by the coro

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue hinted this week at the possibility of more CFAP aid for farmers on the horizon. Perdue confirmed that the USDA is considering “shortly after Labor Day” offering a second wave of CFAP relief. Funding for the next round of payments would come from the additional $14 billion Congress allocated in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to replenish the Commod

Congress won’t consider any coronavirus relief until September, and the streamlined package likely won’t include agriculture. According to the Hagstrom Report, Senate Republicans indicate they plan to introduce a “skinny” bill next month. The Senate returns ...

Last week, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden joined Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders, calling for direct relief for family farmers impacted by the ongoing pandemic. The four says small farmers nationwide have been hit hard by months of closed restaurants, schools and in some locations farmers markets ...

Earlier this week, the Senate rolled out the Health Economic Assistance Liability Protection and Schools Act, better known as the HEALS Act. The proposal includes an additional $20 billion in relief funds for agriculture. Andrew Walmsley, American Farm Bureau Federation Congressional Relations Director, said the funding expands much-needed relief across agriculture ...