Media

FIRST ON FOX: Congress is taking steps to address the rural mental health crisis in the U.S. with new legislation aimed at expanding the mental health resources available to farmers and ranchers.

President Joe Biden sent a request to Congress that includes $2.8 billion in disaster aid for farmers and livestock producers affected by natural disasters. The overall request the White House has put together is $56 billion.

Five Democratic U.S. representatives from California are calling on the White House to include disaster relief funds for their state’s farmers and growers in their forthcoming supplemental request for domestic priorities. The lawmakers — Jim Costa, Salud Carbajal, Zoe Lofgren, Jimmy Panetta, and Julia Brownley — represent a region of California that was battered by storms and flooding in the early months of 2023, causing an estimated $1.4 billion in damages to its agricultural operations.