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Drought Assistance Improvement Act
To improve drought related disaster assistance programs of the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
Summary
The Drought Assistance Improvement Act modifies federal drought disaster assistance programs for agricultural producers. For the Livestock Forage Disaster Program, the bill lowers the drought eligibility threshold from requiring at least 8 consecutive weeks to also allowing assistance for 4 consecutive weeks of drought during the normal grazing period, with 4-week droughts receiving 1 monthly payment and 8-week droughts receiving 2 monthly payments. The bill expands the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program to explicitly include drought as an eligible adverse condition for disaster assistance. The legislation establishes new documentation standards for tracking drought-related losses in farm-raised fish production, particularly for crawfish harvest reductions caused by adverse weather or drought. These changes make it easier for farmers to access disaster assistance during drought conditions and expand eligibility to additional agricultural commodities.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Letlow, Julia [R-LA-5] (R-LA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Julia Letlow’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $94,850
- MMR GROUP $29,400
- RADIANCE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. $27,300
- CORNERSTONE GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS $27,250
- RADIANCE TECHNOLOGIES $18,750
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Julia Letlow → · Outside spending →
Actions (4)
- Feb 14, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry. · house
- Feb 14, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit. · house
- Jan 15, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- Jan 15, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 15, 2025
Ms. Letlow introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To improve drought related disaster assistance programs of the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Drought Assistance Improvement Act”.
SEC. 2. LIVESTOCK FORAGE DISASTER PROGRAM.
Section 1501(c)(3)(D)(ii)(I) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(c)(3)(D)(ii)(I)) is amended—
(1) by striking “at least 8 consecutive” and inserting the following: “not less than— “(aa) 4 consecutive weeks during the normal grazing period for the county, as determined by the Secretary, shall be eligible to receive assistance under this paragraph in an amount equal to 1 monthly payment using the monthly payment rate determined under subparagraph (B); or “(bb) 8 consecutive”; and
(2) in item (bb) (as so designated), by striking “1 monthly payment” and inserting “2 monthly payments”.
SEC. 3. EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR LIVESTOCK, HONEY BEES, AND FARM-RAISED FISH PROGRAM.
(a) Documentation Standards.—Section 1501(d) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(d)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting “drought,” after “adverse weather,”;
(2) in paragraph (2), by inserting “adverse weather or drought,” after “disease,”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(5) Documentation standards.—For purposes of this subsection, the Secretary, in consultation with eligible producers of farm-raised fish, shall establish a documentation standard for each of the following:
“(A) Collecting data.
“(B) Production of crawfish, as related to reductions in harvest.
“(C) Defining loss conditions due to drought.”.
(b) Reduced Crawfish Harvest Eligibility.—Subsection 1501(d)(2) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(d)(2)) is further amended by inserting “and loss of crawfish harvest due to adverse weather or drought” after “cattle tick fever”. <all>
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