Benjamin Gilman: “in May of last year, New York's Hudson Valley farmers were hard hit by a severe hailstorm that devastated their crops.…”

“in May of last year, New York's Hudson Valley farmers were hard hit by a severe hailstorm that devastated their crops. Particularly impacted were our onion growers. Already facing difficulties due to a prior storm, our Orange County onion growers found themselves confronted by a new hardship. Their hardship was compounded by a failed Federal Government crop insurance program. Most of our farmers who had no significant yields as a result of this storm were forced to zero out their crops. And when they applied for crop insurance, they found a cumbersome, poorly managed system that provided absolutely no relief. Following last year's disaster, Congress passed the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1999, appropriating $5.9 billion for emergency assistance. To date, our farmers have not received one penny of these funds, while payments were made shortly after its enactment to dairy, to cotton, to wheat and hog farmers. The Agriculture Department has not responded to our farmers' needs. Following this storm, starting in February, Secretary Glickman instituted a sign-up period for disaster funding, stating that the delay was due to working out a proper formula. Mr. Speaker, I urge Secretary Glickman to release these funds immediately to prevent any further delay so that our growers may be able to continue their farming.”