U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to quickly approve the State of New Mexico’s request for disaster assistance following December’s catastrophic winter storm.
Original Title
NM Delegation Presses for Disaster Assistance for Farmers and Ranchers Recovering from December Storms
U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to quickly approve the State of New Mexico’s request for disaster assistance following December’s catastrophic winter storm.
U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to quickly approve the State of New Mexico’s request for disaster assistance following December’s catastrophic winter storm.
Congress of the United States
Washington, DE 20510
January 15, 2016
‘The Honorable Tom Vilsack
Secretary of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave. SW, Room 200
Washington, D.C. 20250
Dear Secretary Vilsack:
We respectfully request that you take prompt action on Governor Susana Martinez’s request for a
Secretarial Disaster Declaration as a result of a catastrophic winter storm that swept through New Mexico
in December 2015, The storm resulted in wide-spread damage to the agricultural sector in the following
counties: Colfax, Union, Harding, Mora, San Miguel, Quay, Guadalupe, Torrance, De Baca, Roosevelt,
Curry, Lincoln, Chaves, Lea, Eddy, Otero, Socorro, and Santa Fe.
A Secretarial disaster designation will immediately trigger the availability of low-interest Farm Service
Agency (FSA) emergency loans to eligible producers in all primary and contiguous counties. The
agricultural sector is vital to New Mexico, and is the backbone of the rural economy, The livestock
mortalities in these counties will have a detrimental effect on the dairy, beef, and sheep within New
Mexico, Future damages and losses to farms, ranches and dairies are likely to be significant.
Recovering from this storm will require a full and coordinated approach. We greatly appreciate the work
already done by New Mexico-based USDA employees to assess damages and provide information about
USDA programs. Given the wide-spread geographic area ofthis disaster, and more expected storms in
‘coming weeks, we request speedy action on this request in order to get assistance to impacted
‘communities as quickly as possible.
We appreciate your past responsiveness to the State of New Mexico when our communities have sought
federal disaster assistance, and thank you for your attention to and consideration ofthis important request
Sincerely,
On Barr hath
Tom Udal Martin Heinrich
‘United States Senator United States Senator
Byk 4.) Medd Matec hajee- Sihem
Ben Ray Lujan teve Pear Michelle Lujan Grisham
United States Representative United States Representative United States Representative