South Dakota Senators Mike Rounds and John Thune joined a bipartisan group of his Senate colleagues in a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue urging the administration to protect the continuity of our country’s food supply and to support rural areas during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by providing needed relief to farmers.
“Americans always depend on our nation’s farmers to grow the food, fuel, and fiber that we all need, but that reliance becomes much more pronounced in times of crisis,” wrote the senators.
“To provide additional support for those whose operations are being affected by the coronavirus, we urge you to consider making emergency measures such as deadline extensions, loan payment deferrals, payment forbearance, and a full suspension of all current and pending foreclosure actions effective for the duration of the pandemic and subsequent economic recovery.”
“Such measures are critical to avoiding disruption in the country’s food supply chain.”
In addition to Thune and Rounds, the letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich,), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Angus King (I-Maine), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
