Press Releases

Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) today issued the following statement after voting in favor of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) conference report:

“Agriculture is an integral part of the economy and history of the Commonwealth of Virginia, particularly the Ninth District.  The negotiations that led to this conference report have been neither easy nor quick, and, as with all compromises, the final product is not perfect.  But it will provide farmers and rural communities with an assurance of consistent farm policies for the next few years.

“Though it does not go as far as proposals that have previously passed the House, the conference report passing the House of Representatives today includes a number of provisions important to communities throughout the Commonwealth and, more specifically, throughout the Ninth Congressional District of Virginia.  It will provide one year of full funding for the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program – similar to the ‘Trees for Schools’ program – to help rural communities who cannot tax federal lands within their jurisdiction to help with education, build and maintain roads, supply emergency services, and provide other necessary infrastructure.  Twenty jurisdictions in the Ninth District alone received PILT payments in 2013.*  This bill will provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development Program with $228 million in funding, including funding for economic development projects, water and wastewater projects, and grants to assist budding farmers and rural entrepreneurs.  It will also make some needed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), saving $8 billion, including closing the ‘heat-and-eat’ loophole that artificially increases benefit levels when states provide nominal low-income heating assistance.  Some states were providing $1 of assistance to families, and then signing those families up for SNAP.  This bill also increases assistance for food banks and ensures that illegal immigrants, lottery winners, traditional college students, and the deceased do not receive SNAP benefits.  Further, the bill prohibits the USDA from engaging in SNAP recruitment activities, including advertising through foreign governments.

“And, in light of what seem to be ever-growing regulatory and policy burdens imposed by the federal government, this bill establishes a permanent subcommittee within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board that is tasked with regularly reviewing EPA actions and regulations that may be harmful to our farmers.

“This bill also conveys the Mullins-Sturgill Cemetery, which is on the edge of the Jefferson National Forest in Pound, from the U.S. Forest Service back to the care and ownership of the family.  This is a small item, but it is one that was important to the family, who wish to manage the cemetery and visit the graves of their loved ones.”

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* http://www.doi.gov/pilt/index.cfm

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