WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told lawmakers Thursday she wants Congress to increase the $30 billion annual limit on Agriculture Department spending under a line of credit at the Treasury Department through the Commodity Credit Corporation, a wholly owned government corporation Congress created in 1933 to provide aid to farmers when needed.

Rollins has used the CCC to provide aid to farmers who are suffering from low commodity prices and high input costs as well as for programs traditionally funded through the CCC.

Rollins told the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee she favors an increase in the $30 billion annual limit USDA's authority to spend when she was responding to a question about farm aid from Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Fla.

Rollins testified before the subcommittee at a hearing on President Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration.

After the hearing, she also pointed out to DTN that the CCC will be used to provide money for farmers under the programs covered in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The OBBBA increased subsidies for crop farmers under Title 1 of the farm bill and for crop insurance.

Rollins said she believes the $30 billion limit has been in place for about 30 years and needs to be increased.

Rollins also said she has been working with Senate Agriculture Appropriations Chairman John Hoeven, R-N.D., about the request. After the hearing, she also told The Hagstrom Report she has been working with Congress for a year on the request.

She said here request is not in Trump's budget request for the Agriculture Department.

In an email, Hoeven told DTN, "We appreciate Secretary Rollins' leadership and will continue working with her to ensure that the CCC has the funding necessary to respond to the needs of farm country."

"As chairman of Ag Approps, we've worked to ensure the availability of CCC funding in the past and will continue working with USDA to ensure this important tool is available to help our farmers and ranchers going forward," Hoeven said.

Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., the ranking member on the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, told DTN he was not surprised at her proposal because the CCC has reached its limit in the past.

Asked if she was speaking about the annual replenishment for the CCC, Rollins said she wants the limit increased. She declined to say how much of an increase she wants, but that she will be "happy with any increase." She said she would work with Congress to achieve the increase through the appropriations process or through another legislative vehicle.

Congress set up the line of credit so the Agriculture secretary has access to borrowing authority to aid farmers as problems arise. The Agriculture secretary has almost unlimited authority to decide how to use the money to address farmers' problems.

During the Obama administration when Democrat Tom Vilsack was Agriculture secretary, a Republican-led Congress restricted use of the funds, but after President Trump was elected to his first term, Congress removed the restrictions at the request of then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Republicans in Congress also pressed to restrict the Agriculture secretary's use of CCC funds with farm bill language in the Biden administration after Vilsack used $3 billion for climate-smart commodity programs.

During the hearing, Rollins responded to questions from many members of the committee. Republicans praised USDA while Democrats criticized the proposed cuts, especially for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children.

Read more about the USDA Commodity Credit Corp. here: https://www.usda.gov/….

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com

Follow him on social platform X @hagstromreport

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