North Dakota Senator John Hoeven is working with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman on additional farm assistance. In an interview with the Red River Farm Network, Hoeven said a budget reconciliation package to fund the Department of Homeland Security and the current war effort would be the legislative vehicle for additional bridge assistance. “We can pass that with 51 votes,” said Hoeven. “We are looking at that for the legislation that Senator (John) Boozman and I put forward, that that could be the vehicle.” The level of proposed farm assistance is significant. “We’ve talked in that $15 to $17 billion range, it’s kinda where we think we’d be, and there probably would be some weather disaster assistance, too. They talked about $7 billion. When you combine those two, it could be $22 billion, if it’s just focused on the farm bridge, it’d be more like in the $15 billion range.”
