Cramer’s Caucus Targets Crop Insurance
After Telling Farmers They’ll Have to Tighten Their Belts on Crop Insurance in 2018, Cramer’s Republican Study Committee Calls for Crop Insurance Cuts
(BISMARCK, ND) — Make no mistake: North Dakota farmers hoping for strong crop insurance programs in the 2018 Farm Bill can’t count on Cramer.
In February, Cramer told North Dakota farmers not to look for crop insurance increases in the 2018 Farm Bill, saying they would have to “make the same amount of money go a little farther.” But last month, North Dakota farmers learned Cramer and his fellow D.C. swamp-buddies at the Republican Study Committee (RSC) have a lot more planned than a little belt-tightening – recommending significantly chopping the government’s share of crop insurance in half in their 2019 budget recommendation, in part by “eliminating the government’s reimbursement to crop insurance companies for administrative expenses.”
Cramer and his cronies certainly don’t think much of crop insurance – even quoting Farms and Free Enterprise to characterize the critical safety net as “less about insurance and more about providing subsidies to farmers.”
Over 93 percent of the farmland in North Dakota is covered by the Crop Insurance Program, but apparently Cramer thinks the vast majority of our farmers are living too high on the hog.
“Kevin Cramer has already shown his willingness to throw farmers under the bus to stay in the good graces of his DC Republican friends and advance his own career, but to take away a crucial safety net for North Dakota’s farmers is downright cruel,” said Scott McNeil, Executive Director of the Democratic-NPL. “Crop insurance is a backbone program for North Dakota’s agriculture community, and cutting premium support in half puts farmers and other agricultural producers at risk of losing everything through no fault of their own. It’s clear: No program and no North Dakotan is too sacred for Cramer to betray when it comes to pleasing his Washington pals – and our farmers won’t soon forget it.”
