Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Hoeven, R-N.D. on Monday praised President Donald Trump’s decision to issue executive orders to provide relief from COVID-19, but said legislation is still need to help farmers and others.

“The president acted to provide relief to Americans impacted by the pandemic,” Hoeven said in a news release.

“Given the stalemate in discussions on the next phase of COVID-19 relief, the president is using all options to provide support to the American people. The president’s executive orders will provide an additional $400 in unemployment benefits to help those who lost their jobs due to COVID-19, continue relief for student loan borrowers, and prevent evictions.

“At the same time, we need to continue working to find consensus on targeted legislation to help safely reopen schools, provide funding for more testing, continue supporting small businesses, including our farmers and ranchers, and assist those most in need.”

A Hoeven spokesperson said today that at present Hoeven has no detailed information on Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s statement Sunday that the White House and House Democrats had reached agreement on nutrition assistance, which should allow Senate Democrats to support aid to farmers and ranchers.

“Sen. Hoeven has been working to secure additional assistance for our nation’s farmers and ranchers as part of the next phase of COVID-19 relief,” the spokesperson said.

“We don’t have additional details on the nutrition piece at this time, however Sen. Hoeven believes we can get to an agreement on both ag assistance and nutrition assistance, but any increase in nutrition spending should not reduce assistance for our farmers and ranchers.”