Combest Criticizes Administration on Drought Actions

August 13, 1999

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) thinks the administration has not effectively used the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program to help drought-stricken farmers. He also criticized the administration for not submitting a formal recommendation to Congress for farmer relief.

The administration "has completely failed to submit a formal recommendation to Congress and has instead relied on vague public statements decrying the farm crisis," Combest says in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

"What is less clear is why (USDA) is not effectively using the current Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program...that was designed by your own administration to meet these very needs. In fact, producers whose noninsured crops have been damaged by drought should be able to apply right now and receive immediate assistance under the NAP," says Combest.

If the problem lies with how the NAP has been implemented rather than Glickman's authority to use it more broadly, "only you (Glickman) can address it," Combest adds. The administration still has time to recommend relief measures to the House Agriculture Committee so those recommendations can be considered in a conference committee on the agriculture appropriations bill, he says. He wants Glickman to submit "official recommendations for an emergency relief package."