Most farm bill observers wonder why Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) even bothered to release text of her long-awaited farm bill at this late date, especially after seeing its contents. Even always optimistic House Ag Chair GT Thompson (R-Pa.) signaled it’s time to focus on a 2018 Farm Bill extension by year’s end.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) characterized Stabenow’s dead-before-arrival measure as “insulting.” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) released more extensive and biting remarks, saying:
“This morning, Chairwoman Stabenow released her Farm Bill text — a 1,400-page document that no Republican committee member has reviewed or had the opportunity to collaborate on. This is not a sincere or transparent effort to address the urgent needs of Rural America. Instead, it is a last-minute power play in the final hours- manipulating her majority power in the Senate Ag Committee before losing the gavel. Today’s move shows that Senate Democrats have walked away from meaningful bipartisan negotiations that are a tradition in this committee and have opted to play politics with the livelihoods of hard-working farmers and ranchers at a time when Rural America needs real solutions… With farmers facing record decreases in net farm income, we must put FARM back in the Farm Bill by increasing crop insurance coverage and reference prices for the American farmer.”
Stabenow offered the Republicans very little other than agreeing to language regarding Commodity Credit Corporation funding restrictions, thereby boosting the farm bill baseline. But she gave nothing on her must-not-change items dealing with food and nutrition and conservation funding. Stabenow previously chided the GOP House plan on CCC as using “magic math and wishful thinking” but now she is willing to use that same math for CCC and put it toward some additional funding.
More on Stabenow’s CCC Flip-Flop
The bill would provide $39 billion in increased funding by restricting USDA’s use of the CCC from 2025 through 2030 unless the department has congressional authority. The bill says the CCC “is authorized to use its general powers only to carry out operations as Congress may specifically authorize or provide for.”
The Congressional Budget Office would be directed to estimate the savings of the provision at $6.7 billion per year. As we previously noted, the provision could potentially restrict the ability of the Trump administration to provide aid offset the impact of retaliatory tariffs.
She told reporters her bill “embraces” the Republicans’ method of paying for increased commodity program funding, referring to the CCC restriction. She said the bill also would provide $2 billion in payments to farmers faster than they get them now under the 2018 Farm Bill.
Now What?
The death knell has sounded on the latest attempt to get a farm bill this calendar year, a fate most thought would be the case after Stabenow didn’t release text of her bill after the House Ag Committee, with the help of some Democrats, cleared its version in May.
It took Stabenow over five months to release the anemic farm bill version filed on Monday. Efforts are now gaining momentum to get a market price relief measure as part of some must-pass legislation yet this year.
The hope is that farmer payments under that legislation (similar to but likely different from a measure by GOP Rep. Trent Kelly of Mississippi) will be built into a new farm bill baseline, providing more funding whenever farm-state lawmakers pick up the Stabenow pieces and actually get serious about writing a farm bill in 2025, or even 2026.
With Thompson remaining as House Ag Chairman in the new Congress, and Boozman taking the top Ag gavel in the Senate, a more serious attempt at an omnibus farm bill is very likely, especially dealing with likely new Senate Ag ranking member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) who has a track record of working across the aisle. She is also less fixated on specialty crops than Stabenow is, and instead will focus on corn, soybeans and wheat, key crops in Minnesota. Klobuchar said on the Senate floor Monday that lawmakers should do “anything we can” to finish a new farm bill by the end of the year.
Disaster Aid More a December Timeline Than November
Despite the Biden administration asking Congress to provide $24 billion in aid to the U.S. ag sector, as part of a $98.4 billion disaster aid package, Congress will likely modify key provisions when they return after a one-week Thanksgiving break. Look for farm-state lawmakers to include specific language on the operation of the coming ag disaster funding to avoid how USDA implemented the last aid to farmers.
Of note: Of the $24 billion for agriculture $21 billion would allow USDA to compensate farmers and ranchers for crop and livestock losses. This is significantly above the around $14 billion in disaster aid recently cited by a USDA official.
More on timing:House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Monday that lawmakers will now “go to work” evaluating the disaster aid request, noting that estimating recovery costs is “a deliberate process.”
With many Republicans campaigning on reducing federal spending, there could be some debate about portions of Biden’s request. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to hear Wednesday from the heads of several of the government agencies that would receive funding through Biden’s request.
It’s possible that emergency aid could be attached to any spending bill designed to keep federal agencies operating after current funding expires Dec. 20. But disaster aid will probably be packaged with a stopgap at the end of the calendar year, senior appropriator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told reporters.
“There’ll be some back and forth, and I’d imagine it probably would all ride on the end,” Capito said.
