WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member and former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture – today  issued the following statement regarding a $1 million grant received by the Servicemember Agricultural Vocation Education (SAVE) Farm based in Manhattan, Kan., as part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) first round of AgVets grant distribution:

"The work being done by Gary and his team at SAVE offers an innovative solution to assist our nation’s heroes in finding jobs after returning to civilian life, and to establish a new generation of agricultural producers and leaders. SAVE’s transition assistance, training and behavioral health services will equip these veterans with the tools and resources they need to earn a living and contribute to the ag economy. In 2016, Gary testified about SAVE before my Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee, where we began a larger, ongoing conversation about the program and its extraordinary value. Today, I am pleased to see our efforts to draw USDA’s attention to the capability of the program he built and designed are paying off.”

Items to Note:

• Gary LaGrange, the founder and President of SAVE, testified in an April 2016 hearing chaired by Sen. Moran in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture about the SAVE program.
• The following month, Sen. Moran’s appropriations bill, which included $5 million in funding for veteran outreach passed out of the full Appropriations committee. This language became law as part of the FY2017 omnibus after passing the House and Senate in May of 2017.
• The FY2018 and FY2019 Agriculture Appropriations bills include language that would continue funding for this grant program.
  
  

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