Kay Hagan: “I rise today to offer an amendment to make sure we are doing all we can to prevent fraud and abuse in the Federal Crop…”

“I rise today to offer an amendment to make sure we are doing all we can to prevent fraud and abuse in the Federal Crop Insurance Program. The issue of fraud in this program hit home for me in March of this year when the Justice Department announced a $100 million crop insurance fraud case in eastern North Carolina, the largest ever of its kind. Forty-one defendants were found guilty and many are serving prison time for profiting from false claims for losses of soybeans, tobacco, wheat, and corn. Following this incident I regularly have farmers coming up to me, telling me they are nervous, nervous that the actions of a few bad actors will lead the Federal Government to cease providing crop insurance assistance. In these difficult budget times, these are valid concerns. For Federal assistance to continue, the integrity of these programs must be rock solid. Crop insurance fraud not only harms the integrity of Federal safety net programs and increases the cost to taxpayers, it also drives up the cost of the insurance program for our honest, law-abiding farmers. The amendment I am offering would provide additional tools to the Risk Management Agency to analyze and combat fraud, waste, and abuse. The Risk Management Agency can expand the sampling requirements to test for and address the concerns with these improper program payments.…”