New developments have been made as one U.S. Congressman from Iowa continues to work to secure funding for those impacted by last year’s derecho storm.

Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District Representative Randy Feenstra says language has been added to the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) Reauthorization Bill, which includes Iowa’s producers that suffered losses from the high wind storm of the derecho. The specific language from derecho was added to House Resolution 267. Feenstra says this is a bipartisan issue.

“And here, collaboratively, we’re working together on a bill to try to get something done, so the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) has dollars to help the different disaster areas that occured in 2020.”

The progress on the bill came after a report that was recently released by the American Farm Bureau Federation where an estimated $147.5 million in losses are currently unaccounted for, following the derecho storm last August. Feenstra adds, the bill was passed with bipartisan support out of the House Agriculture Committee that he serves on.