Cotton assistance attached to disaster relief bill passed in U.S. House, going to Senate

Jan. 09--U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington says cotton producers are one step away from getting cotton coverage again.

Prior to the Christmas break, the U.S. House voted 251 to 169 to pass an $81 billion disaster relief bill for states and territories impacted by the hurricanes and wildfires last year. Included in the bill was a provision to help cotton farmers, who Arrington said are suffering from different types of disasters.

The bill includes a provision that would bring cotton back into Title I of the Farm Bill, and would cover cotton as both a seed and lint for the first time ever. Getting this designation has long been a priority for many in the cotton industry after it wasn't included in the last farm bill. The designation would make cotton eligible for safety nets, such as Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage, already available for other crops.

The budget-neutral proposal is to cut the Stacked Income Protection Program and the generic base acres policy available to cotton growers to free up funds to add cotton onto the list of covered commodities.

Arrington has been working on this since taking office, and said this would be a big win for West Texas.

"I can't overstate the impact of getting this fix for West Texas, and for the future," Arrington, R-Lubbock, said Monday. "That's why people elected me -- to think about the big challenges and how we make sure we have a prosperous West Texas. As agriculture goes in West Texas, so goes our communities. There is nothing bigger than this."

Rather than waiting for a 2018 farm bill, advocates have tried to get the designation through various attempts. The last was to get it included in the omnibus appropriations bill passed in May 2017, but according to a previous A-J article, it was scrapped at the last minute when the two chambers met for negotiations.

"Our growers need a long-term, viable safety net to ensure a strong future for the cotton industry," Steve Verett, executive vice president of Plains Cotton Growers, said in a news release Monday. "Timing is of the essence, and by including this fix in legislation prior to the 2018 Farm Bill, our growers will have more certainty going into the new year."

Richard Goana, president of the Southern Rolling Plains Cotton Growers, said ensuring that cotton farmers have the necessary risk management tools is critical to not just the success of farmers, but the region's success. Goana said this proposed change does that.

This new bill still needs Senate approval and President Donald Trump's signature, and Arrington says he's working close with U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas to get it passed.

"We were able to convince the leadership of the house that California has fires, the gulf region has hurricanes, and we have, in the cotton belt, a crisis without that safety net," said Arrington. "To be able to fix this outside the farm bill, number one, it allows us to apply this to next year. Number two, it also improves the prospects of passing a farm bill that'll include a whole host of over things."

Senate leaders said before the Christmas break they weren't going to take up the disaster-relief package until January.

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