Feenstra Leads Letter To House Committees Regarding Disaster Relief Funding

Last Week, Iowa’s 4th District Congressman Randy Feenstra  led a letter with Reps. Cindy Axne (IA-03), Peter DeFazio (OR-04), Clay Higgins (LA-03), Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Terri Sewell (AL-07), Mike Thompson (CA-05), and 21 other signers to House Agriculture and Appropriations Committee leaders, urging them to extend and fully fund the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) for 2020 natural disasters. The bipartisan group of lead signers represent regions that were hit hard by natural disasters, including the devastating derecho that impacted a large swath of Iowa in 2020.

Feenstra, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, led this effort after his amendment to provide derecho relief funding passed the Ag Committee in February, only to be stripped out by Democrats on the Rules Committee in March. Since then, Feenstra has continued working with members across the country and on both sides of the aisle to ensure this much-needed relief would be delivered.

The Members wrote “The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the need for assistance as agricultural producers have had to recover from disasters while also dealing with the effects of the pandemic, “This support is more critical than ever.”