John Kerry: “today Senator Snowe and I have introduced a bill to help a group of nearly 300 fishermen, known as aquaculturists, who…”

“today Senator Snowe and I have introduced a bill to help a group of nearly 300 fishermen, known as aquaculturists, who are falling through the cracks of the Government's disaster assistance programs. Right now these businesses are prohibited from receiving SBA disaster loans, and they are eligible for USDA disaster loans only under limited circumstances. To our dismay, we have learned that SBA has come across this dilemma many times in the past, most recently last year in Connecticut, and yet no one at that agency has ever tried to coordinate with the Department of Agriculture. To make matters worse, the SBA waited two weeks to let us know that they wouldn't be able to serve all our small businesses. So even in those cases in which these harmed small businesses would be eligible for loans from the USDA, hundreds of small businesses are left waiting for the Secretary of Agriculture to go through the same hoops to certify a disaster and make that agency's disaster loans available. I appreciate all the Farm Service Agency has done to expedite the process, and compliment their staff for being so responsive. However, this isn't right. Our State has been hit by the worst case of red tide in more than 30 years. These small business owners have seen their income disappear because they can't sell their inventory. With no income they can't pay their bills, invest in seeds to plant future crops, and they can't afford to maintain their current crops.…”