Senate committee defeats Durbin's $200M farm bill amendment aimed at rural healthcare

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – There is a rural healthcare crisis in Illinois and across the nation. Rural hospitals are feeling the bite of federal funding cuts while farmers face skyrocketing health care premiums.

On Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin offered an amendment to the federal farm bill which would have extended a lifeline to troubled rural hospitals at risk of closure. The amendment was defeated when every Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee voted against it.

The amendment would have provided rural hospitals with $8 million in federal grants. Overall, the grants would have totaled $200 million a year.

Durbin told WAND News that 24 rural hospitals in Illinois are in serious trouble.

Illinois Farm Bureau President Philip Nelson expressed "disappointment" that the bill wasn't passed, stating:

"For years, farmers have operated under extensions of the 2018 farm bill while facing rising input costs, volatile markets and continued economic uncertainty. Illinois farmers need a modernized, five-year farm bill that reflects today’s challenges. We urge Congress to work toward a bipartisan agreement and advance a farm bill this year that reflects today’s challenges in the farm economy and E15 legislation that expands market opportunities for farmers," Nelson said in a statement.