(NAFB.com) – Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), ranking member of the Senate Ag Committee, led 11 of her colleagues in pushing Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins to expedite and increase payouts in disaster and economic assistance programs. They’re pressing for a faster payout because of the numerous headwinds challenging them. “As farmers face continued trade uncertainty, rising input costs, and natural disasters, we encourage you to speed up the economic disaster assistance that will benefit all farmers, including specialty crop growers,” the Senators wrote in a letter to the Secretary. “While significant assistance flowed quickly to farmers in the summer and fall, payments were limited to 35 percent of approved applications.” They also said, as a result, less than $6 billion out of the $16 billion available has been paid out to farmers more than a year after Congress provided the funds and nearly three years after some farmers faced losses.