Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small joined other officials on Wednesday to testify at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on disaster aid.

The White House has asked for a total of $100 billion in disaster aid, including $24 billion for USDA programs.

“USDA and the Biden-Harris administration are executing on a comprehensive, across-the-department-and-administration response to help agricultural producers, forest landowners, families, and rural communities in the short and long term, using every option available to respond to these hurricanes,” Torres Small said.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., a member of the committee, argued that “American farmers and ranchers need Congress to provide emergency market loss assistance before the end of the year to save producers in Mississippi and across the nation from being forced out of business.”

Hyde-Smith noted Biden’s emergency supplemental request “does not mention or include market loss assistance for agricultural producers.”

“It is absolutely essential that Congress provide emergency assistance for agricultural producers before the end of this year. Even if we passed a farm bill today, under the traditional farm bill structure, assistance would not reach the farmers in time. The assistance needs to be robust, and it needs to be implemented swiftly. And then the third thing is we must address all types of disasters. When I say that, I’m referring to natural disasters, as well as market-related disasters,” Hyde-Smith said. 

In a news release, Hyde-Smith noted that in response to a question regarding getting market loss assistance to farmers quickly, Torres Small said: “Whatever Congress establishes, it is our responsibility to deliver.”

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in her opening statement on Wednesday that “this is one of the longest times in my memory that we have gone without Congress providing disaster funding,” but the package is not likely to be finished until December, National Journal reported.