Tonight, the House of Representatives came together across the aisle to pass a continuing resolution to fund the U.S. government through March 2025. This resolution is expected to pass the Senate, therefore averting a government shutdown that would have impacted families, travelers, national parks, public servants, and more ahead of the Christmas holiday. The year-end package includes over $100 billion in disaster relief to families and communities recovering from devastating climate-fueled extreme weather events, including $21 billion to farmers who lost crops, livestock, and critical facilities to floods, fires, and severe weather and aid to restore hurricane-damaged national parks and public lands. It also includes a second one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill and $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers affected by market losses.

In response, EEN President & CEO Rev. Dr. Jessica Moerman issued the following statement:

“EEN is grateful to see congressional leaders come together and come to agreement on a short-term funding deal that delivers desperately needed aid to our farmers and survivors of unnatural disasters. In addition to relief for families and communities recovering from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, we applaud the inclusion of funds to restore our national parks and public lands that were also damaged. Our national parks are economic engines for local communities and places of refuge for God’s creation. We regret, however, that Congress has taken the short-sighted view and left historic long-term investments in high-demand conservation agriculture programs on the cutting room floor. Conservation agriculture practices supported by these programs make our farmers more resilient to the very climate-fueled extreme weather events that they are now receiving billions in aid to recover from. This failure to invest in the long-term resilience of our farmers is a significant missed opportunity, leaving farm operations, food security, and the national economy unnecessarily vulnerable to future unnatural disasters. While we celebrate the immediate recovery aid provided, without sustained and meaningful climate action, American families and farmers will continue to bear the steep and often unrecoverable costs of climate change. Congress must come together to swiftly advance bipartisan climate solutions and a conservation-forward Farm Bill in 2025 that invests in a strong and resilient future for our farmers, families, and God’s creation.”