{"id":27584,"date":"2025-05-06T14:56:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T18:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=27584"},"modified":"2025-05-06T14:56:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T18:56:52","slug":"watch-sen-ossoff-presses-president-trumps-agriculture-secretary-brooke-rollins-to-expedite-hurricane-relief-for-georgia-farmers","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/watch-sen-ossoff-presses-president-trumps-agriculture-secretary-brooke-rollins-to-expedite-hurricane-relief-for-georgia-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Sen. Ossoff Presses President Trump\u2019s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to Expedite Hurricane Relief for Georgia Farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last December, Sen. Ossoff brought Republicans & Democrats together to pass $21 billion in disaster relief for farmers in Georgia & nationwide<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington, D.C. \u2014 <\/strong>U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff pressed President Trump\u2019s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins today to expedite Hurricane relief for Georgia farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, in a U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies hearing, Sen. Ossoff called on USDA Secretary Rollins to expedite relief to Georgia farmers impacted by Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the hearing, Sen. Ossoff shared stories from constituents like Arren Moses, owner of Moses Pecan in Uvalda, Georgia, who told Sen. Ossoff\u2019s office, \u201cwe lost almost our entire 2024 pecan crop when Hurricane Helene hit our orchards. We lost the majority of our mature pecan trees, which will set our farm\u2019s production back for years. We were thankful that Congress approved disaster assistance funding at the end of last year, but it’s critical that these funds get to those that need help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Hopkins, a cotton producer in Toombs County, also told Sen. Ossoff\u2019s office that the storm has \u201ccreated a void due to loss of yield and quality as well as cost of cleanup that has become untenable to a first-generation operation like mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to Sen. Ossoff\u2019s questioning, Secretary Rollins said USDA will make Hurricane Helene disaster funding available \u201cby the end of the month, hopefully in the next week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff’s line of questioning<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Sen. Ossoff continues\u00a0pressing<\/a>\u00a0the Trump Administration to swiftly distribute Federal disaster assistance for Georgia farmers that Congress secured after Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last December, Sen. Ossoff successfully fought to pass a bipartisan disaster relief package that included $21 billion<\/a> in agricultural disaster funding to help Georgia farmers recovering from the disastrous impacts of Hurricane Helene and farmers nationwide impacted by natural disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please find a transcript of Sen. Ossoff\u2019s remarks and questioning below<\/u><\/strong>:

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cThank you Mr. Chairman. Good morning, Madam Secretary, thank you for joining us. I want to follow up on hurricane disaster assistance, a key, key priority for farmers in Georgia, Madam Secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s worth noting that after Hurricane Michael in 2018 it took the Congress the better part of a year to pass disaster assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe worked together across the aisle here to get it done after Hurricane Helene in less than 90 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere\u2019s a quote from Arren Moses, owner of Moses Pecan in Uvalda, Georgia: \u2018We lost almost our entire 2024 pecan crop when Hurricane Helene hit our orchards. We lost the majority of our mature pecan trees, which will set our farm\u2019s production back for years. We were thankful that Congress approved disaster assistance funding at the end of last year, but it’s critical that these funds get to those that need help.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere’s a quote from Chris Hopkins, a cotton producer in Toombs County, he said that the storm has \u2018created a void due to loss of yield and quality as well as cost of cleanup that has become untenable to a first-generation operation like mine.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen can farmers in Georgia expect that hurricane relief, which we passed timely in Congress, to be out the door?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEC. ROLLINS<\/strong>: \u201cYeah. First of all, thank you for that. That relief was passed very quickly and very impressively at the end of last year, and so we have been tracking it very, very closely. I have visited Georgia, hopefully next time I’ll see you. I visited some of those peanut farmers, especially, I’ve seen the devastation firsthand. It is heartbreaking to witness it. I had mentioned earlier, but it’s good to keep repeating it, that within a matter of weeks, the portal will open on those grant applications. Under ECAP, which was the first tranche, that first $10 billion that went out for emergency assistance…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cThat\u2019s the economic assistance. I\u2019m referring to the disaster assistance.\u201d

SEC. ROLLINS:<\/strong> \u201cThat’s right, I understand, but I just want to use that as an explanation of how we’re going to be also doing the second tranche, which is the disaster. We on March 17, announced it. On March 20, funds were moving out and into farmers\u2019 bank accounts…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cWhen will the portal be open for the disaster assistance?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEC. ROLLINS:<\/strong> \u201cBy the end of the month, hopefully in the next week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cHow will that impact states that are using a block grant arrangement with USDA?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEC. ROLLINS:<\/strong> \u201cWell, that’s a state-by-state question, so I’ll be happy to follow up with Tyler Harper, your Ag Commissioner, who I know was tracking this very, very closely and ensuring…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cWhen do you expect those discussions with the state to be resolved?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEC. ROLLINS:<\/strong> \u201cWell, we, again, there are 50 states. We’re talking to all of them. When we open that portal, hopefully it moves almost immediately. We’ve already moved $280 million that was outlined in that disaster relief into Texas. Because it was outlined, it was obviously easier than the, you know, than the open, the open book on the rest of the states. But it will move very, very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cTime is of the essence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEC. ROLLINS:<\/strong> \u201cIf you don’t see that, then, would you please let me know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: <\/strong>\u201cI sure will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEC. ROLLINS:<\/strong> \u201cAnd we’ll do everything we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

# # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last December, Sen. Ossoff brought Republicans & Democrats together to pass $21 billion in disaster relief for farmers in Georgia & nationwide Washington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff pressed President Trump\u2019s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins today to expedite Hurricane relief for Georgia farmers. Today, in a U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27584","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/27584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/27584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27588,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/27584\/revisions\/27588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}