Senate GOP Unveils Coronavirus Relief Package with $20B in Ag Aid

July 28, 2020

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by Philip Basher (Agri-Pulse) Senate Republicans unveiled a coronavirus relief package Monday that would give the Agriculture Department broad authority to spend an additional $20 billion to compensate agricultural producers and processors for the impact of the pandemic.

The money would augment the $14 billion that USDA now has available to spend in its Commodity Credit Corp. account as a result of the CARES Act, enacted in March.

Another key provision in the legislation, known as the HEALS Act, which is actually a combination of individual measures, would essentially forgive all Paycheck Protection Program loans under $150,000 without farmers and other borrowers having to prove that they spent the proceeds on allowable expenses.

The bill says the money can be used “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus by providing support for agricultural producers, growers, and processors impacted by coronavirus, including producers, growers, and processors of specialty crops, non-specialty crops, dairy, livestock and poultry, including livestock and poultry depopulated due to insufficient processing access and growers who produce livestock or poultry under a contract for another entity.”

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The Senate bill doesn’t expressly mention the biofuel industry, but an aide to the chairman of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, John Hoeven of North Dakota, said the inclusion of processors as eligible recipients would allow USDA make payments to ethanol producers.

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Missing from the Senate GOP bill was an expansion of the Soil Health and Income Protection Program, which was authorized as a 50,000-acre pilot program under the 2018 farm bill. The HEROES Act would expand the set-aside program to 5 million acres and offer farmers an annual payment of $70 an acre to enroll land in SHIPP for three years. READ MORE

Senate releases COVID-19 relief bills (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Senate releases phase 4 COVID-19 relief package (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

No Boost in CCC Authority: GOP Bill Provides $20 Billion for Agriculture, But No Language for Ethanol Aid (DTN Progressive Farmer)

What’s in the HEALS Act for Agriculture? Comparing HEALS and HEROS Act Provisions for Agriculture (and Fisheries) (American Farm Bureau Federation)

ACE Seeks More Specific Aid for Ethanol (Energy.AgWired.com)

Biofuel allies mobilize to secure COVID-19 aid (E&E News)

Ethanol Producers Wait for Lifeline: Biofuels Industry Waits for Financial Relief, RFS Volumes Amid Uncertainty (DTN Progressive Farmer)

Grassley: Ethanol producers may have to depend on Perdue for aid (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Grassley seeks $3 billion for ethanol interests (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

WHERE IS THE AID FOR THE ETHANOL INDUSTRY? (Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association)

Biofuel makers call for inclusion in next coronavirus relief package (WOOD TV)

MN U.S. SENATOR TINA SMITH SEEKS COVID AID FOR TURKEY, BIOFUELS, AND PROCESSING SECTORS (Brownfield Ag News)

Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: “This is a good first step towards healing the damage wrought by COVID-19, but falls short of providing the necessary clarity that would have been provided in Senators Ernst, Grassley and Klobuchar's proposed language," said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy. "The next critical step in a final agreement between House and Senate is to provide additional certainty around the nature of biofuel industry relief to ensure our producers have access to this much needed assistance. Our fight is far from over, especially with the number of retroactive refinery exemption applications continuing to rise and COVID-19 depressing trade to our key ethanol markets abroad. It’s encouraging to know that we have House and Senate leaders in our corner who understand that protecting America’s biofuel workforce now is vital to rebuilding our nation’s agricultural supply chain and markets for American farmers.”

A separate bill released by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassey, R-Iowa, would provide further relief for workers affected by COVID-19; assistance to individuals, families, and employers to reopen the economy; support for patients, nursing home residents, providers and foster youth in responding to COVID-19; additional flexibility and accountability for coronavirus relief fund payments and state tax certainty for employers and employees. READ MORE

Excerpt from DTN Progressive Farmer: With ethanol producers continuing to struggle and fuel demand sliding during the COVID-19 pandemic, biofuels producers and Midwest lawmakers have been waiting for a lifeline.

The EPA has surpassed the deadline by one month to release proposed 2021 renewable volume obligations in the Renewable Fuel Standard, an important market driver for biofuels.

And while congressional leaders continue to hammer out details on a new round of COVID-19 stimulus that may include relief for ethanol producers this time, President Donald Trump was in west Texas on Wednesday touting the oil industry on a fundraising stop.

The Senate version of pandemic relief gives USDA discretion to make direct payments totaling $20 billion to agriculture including "agricultural processors." The language is broad and would leave it up to USDA to determine who would qualify for aid.

"It isn't clear how or whether ethanol producers would benefit from the inclusion of 'agricultural processors' in the Senate bill's agriculture relief provisions," Renewable Fuels Association Chief Executive Officer Geoff Cooper told DTN. READ MORE

Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: (Iowa Senator Chuck) Grassley said he thinks the phase four COVID-19 relief package ought to include legislation he introduced in May in partnership with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. That bill, titled the “Renewable Fuel Feedstock Reimbursement Act of 2020,” would require the USDA to reimburse biofuel producers for their feedstock purchases may Jan. 1 through March 31. The funding would come from the Commodity Credit Corp.

The phase four legislative package released by the U.S. Senate earlier this week contains no dedicated relief for ethanol producers. It does, however, provide the USDA with $20 million to support agriculture producers, growers, and processors impacted by COVID-19. Ethanol producers would be considered eligible entities for the program. The USDA would be given discretion regarding how to allocate that funding. “We are kind of in a position of depending on the Secretary of Agriculture—if this $20 billion goes to him—getting some for ethanol,” Grassley said. READ MORE

Excerpt from Iowa Capital Dispatch: U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is lobbying Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to allocate at least $3 billion to ethanol interests from a $20 billion pot for agriculture proposed by the Senate.

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Grassley told the Iowa Farmers Union in a Zoom meeting Tuesday that he spoke with Perdue this week about the issue. Perdue said he would consider it, Grassley said, but feared similar requests from other ag sectors such as those who process corn and soybeans for other products. READ MORE