Chavez-DeRemer lists proposals included in House Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) – Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, said Friday she has successfully secured several bipartisan proposals in the committee’s Farm Bill, which was approved by the panel with bipartisan support and now heads to the House floor for consideration.

Chavez-DeRemer gathered ideas from Oregon farmers, ranchers, and foresters during two Farm Bill listening sessions she held last year, including one in Albany with Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (PA-15).

Her priorities that were included would help improve workforce training opportunities in the forestry and timber industries; reduce wildfire risks; support specialty crop growers, including new and beginning farmers; strengthen broadband; expand child care options for families in rural areas; and enhance the farm safety net and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Watch Chavez-DeRemer’s committee remarks on her support for the Farm Bill HERE.

“Over the last year and a half, I’ve worked closely with Oregon farmers, foresters, and ranchers, along with my colleagues on the Agriculture Committee, to write an effective Farm Bill. It includes over a dozen bipartisan bills that I helped lead to ensure our rural communities have the resources they need to grow and thrive. Instead of waiting for the Senate to act, the House has taken an important first step toward passing a strong Farm Bill to provide certainty for producers. I’ll keep working to secure pragmatic policies that will benefit Oregon farmers, foresters, and ranchers for the next five years as this process continues to play out,” Chavez-DeRemer said.

The Farm, Food, and National Security Act includes more than a dozen bipartisan proposals that were led or backed by Chavez-DeRemer. 

Forestry and Wildfire Prevention

• Jobs in the Woods Act: Chavez-DeRemer introduced this bipartisan legislation with Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) to address labor shortages in forestry. Key components of the proposal were included to strengthen grant programs geared toward expanding job training opportunities in forestry, logging, and conservation.
• Special Forest Products Program Reauthorization Act: Chavez-DeRemer joined Gluesenkamp Perez to introduce this bipartisan legislation, which would continue to allow the harvesting of special forest products such as mushrooms, seeds, and firewood.
• Fire Safe Electrical Corridors Act: Chavez-DeRemer joined Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA-24) to introduce this bipartisan legislation, which would ensure utility companies can remove trees and branches around electrical lines to reduce wildfire risk.
• Wildfire Tech DEMO Act: Chavez-DeRemer is a cosponsor of this bipartisan bill, which seeks to pave the way for new technological developments, such as artificial intelligence, to anticipate and help control wildfires.

Specialty Crops

• Specialty Crop Security Act: Chavez-DeRemer joined Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-07) to introduce this bipartisan legislation expanding the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. The Farm Bill increased funding for the program by $15 million, which would help support the long-term success of specialty crop farms and broaden the market for these crops at home and abroad.
• SWAT Act: Chavez-DeRemer introduced this bipartisan legislation with Slotkin to help prevent specialty crop losses caused by invasive fruit flies that damage fruit crops like blueberries and strawberries. The Farm Bill includes language to broaden High Priority Research and Extension initiatives to include invasive species research on these fruit flies.
• Advancing Automation Research and Development in Agriculture Act: Chavez-DeRemer is a cosponsor of this bipartisan proposal, which offers additional funding to support mechanization and automation projects to help specialty crop growers improve efficiency.

Rural Development

• Expanding Child Care in Rural America Act: Chavez-DeRemer joined Gluesenkamp Perez to help introduce this bipartisan legislation, which would require the USDA to prioritize projects that address the availability, quality, and cost of child care. The Farm Bill would authorize a three-year rural child care initiative to achieve these goals.
• Investing in Rural America Act: Chavez-DeRemer is a cosponsor of this bipartisan legislation. It would allow farm credit institutions to partner with community banks to finance community facilities like hospitals, child care facilities, and emergency services.
• Strengthening Broadband: Chavez-DeRemer has been a strong advocate for improving high-speed internet access in rural Oregon, and she successfully advocated for an expansion of the Reconnect Broadband Program – a grant program providing funding for broadband expansion projects.

Farm Safety Net

• Smoke Exposure Crop Insurance Act: Chavez-DeRemer is an original cosponsor of this bipartisan bill to help develop new crop insurance policies related to wine grape losses due to smoke exposure.
• Crop Insurance for Future Farmers Act: Chavez-DeRemer is a cosponsor of this bipartisan legislation to expand assistance for new and beginning farmers during their first 10 years.

Nutrition Assistance

• SNAP Staffing Flexibility Act: Chavez-DeRemer joined Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02) to introduce this bill, which would help speed up the processing of SNAP applications.
• SNAP Nutrition Security Act: Chavez-DeRemer joined Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) to help introduce this bipartisan legislation. It would require the USDA to research ways to improve access and affordability of healthy foods for SNAP recipients.
• Training and Nutrition Stability Act: Chavez-DeRemer is a cosponsor of this bipartisan proposal, which seeks to ensure SNAP recipients do not lose benefits if they are participating in a temporary job training program.