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Senators urge cotton, textiles assistance under COVID-19 relief
Home Textiles Today Staff • July 15, 2020
Washington – Two U.S. Senators are leading a bipartisan push to include aid for the cotton and textile industries in the next COVID-19 relief package.
Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mark Warner (D-VA) recently led a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urging the next round of COVID-19 assistance adequately address the magnitude of the losses felt throughout the cotton supply chain by cotton farmers, textile mills and the cotton merchandising segment.
They asserted that the pandemic is causing unprecedented demand destruction for cotton apparel and textiles.
“Billions of dollars of orders have been cancelled as retail shopping outlets remain closed or operate at reduced capacity. The collapse in cotton demand is being felt across the U.S. cotton industry from textile manufacturers to merchandisers to cotton producers, and all segments in between. The viability of the farms and businesses, and the jobs they represent, are at risk of not surviving this crisis,” they wrote.
They want any relief package to ensure USDA’s next round of agricultural assistance will address “the magnitude of the losses felt throughout the cotton supply chain by cotton farmers and include critical relief for textile mills and the cotton merchandising segment, all of which are facing unprecedented economic losses.”
Joining Senators Tillis and Warner were Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Doug Jones (D-AL), Richard Burr (R-NC), John Cornyn (R-TX), John Boozman (R-AR), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Martha McSally (R-AZ), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tim Scott (R-SC) and Roger Wicker (R-MS).
The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) shared the full text of the letter, which is available here.