News

As the dust settles on the 2018 midterm election, agents across the country may be wondering how the new balance of power in Congress will affect their businesses.

The Farm Bill expired on Sunday, Sept. 30, leaving several agricultural, environmental and nutrition programs and initiatives in limbo.

In June, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed differing versions of the Farm Bill. Neither bill contains cuts to the Federal Crop Insurance Program.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate voted to extend the NFIP through Nov. 30 by a vote of 86-12. President Trump signed the measure on July 31, meaning the NFIP did not have a lapse in authority during the height of the Atlantic hurricane season.

After the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would extend the NFIP through Nov. 30, the timing for consideration of the measure in the U.S. Senate remains uncertain.

Unless Congress acts, the NFIP is scheduled to expire on July 31. Call the offices of your federal legislators to encourage them to reauthorize the program.

The Big “I” and other groups are currently advocating for Congress to extend the NFIP before the program expires on July 31.

Even though both the House and Senate have passed a Farm Bill supportive of crop insurance, the bills significantly differ on several contentious issues.

The Senate version of the Farm Bill is scheduled for a vote before the end of the week. However, disagreement among senators over some provisions of the bill have made it unclear what changes might be made to the bill before the vote.

Yesterday, the “Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018” passed by a 20-1 vote out of a U.S. Senate committee.