Congress Signals Farm Bill Passage Uncertain this Year

Politico's Grace Yarrow and Marcia Brown reported recently that Republican "lawmakers are currently weighing whether to put Biden-era conservation programs into their party-line mega-bill that might have otherwise been included in their separate reauthorization of federal farm programs, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations."

Yarrow and Brown reported that the possibility of moving conservation programs into the mega-bill is "sending more signals they doubt their ability to pass a new, bipartisan farm bill this year."

"One of the people said it's 'likely' that Republicans will pull unspent conservation program dollars from the Democrats' 2022 climate law into their party-line mega-bill to continue funding those popular programs," Yarrow and Brown reported. "But Republicans will also likely push to remove climate-related guardrails on those climate law initiatives as they have during previous negotiations."

"GOP lawmakers previously rejected a similar push from Democrats to add conservation money to the farm bill; now, they are open to adding certain programs to the other pending piece of legislation as U.S. producers grapple with economic headwinds and an outdated farm safety net. Republicans are also considering including two key farm bill provisions -- increased reference prices and updated crop insurance for farmers -- into the legislation that would enact broad swaths of President Donald Trump's domestic agenda.”

Democrats Also Maintain Stance that Farm Bill is Uncertain This Year

E&E News Marc Heller reported that while House Ag Chair GT Thompson and Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-AR) laid out an optimistic scenario for the farm bill, Democratic lawmakers who addressed agriculture reporters said they're also uncertain about the bill's prospects and worried about the Trump administration's cuts to agriculture agencies that aren't raising many public objections from Republicans.

Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said she's petrified by staff reductions and frozen grants and contracts at the Forest Service. Her home state is dominated by privately-owned forest that benefits from the Forest Service's state and private forestry programs – “a great legacy industry in our state,” she said. "Among the effects in Maine, and other states, has been the freezing of wood innovation grants to mills, provided by the Inflation Reduction Act."

Pingree, who's on both the House Agriculture and Appropriations committees, said, “The Agriculture panel could write a bipartisan farm bill on its own but that the reality of passing legislation on the floor and satisfying the Republicans' right wing complicates the picture. Thompson has been a great chair who hosted bipartisan listening sessions. The committee is pretty reasonable at figuring these things out. Now that lawmakers are juggling reconciliation and a farm bill together, all hell has broken loose."

Senate Agriculture ranking member Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said, “Republican lawmakers have become more likely to complain privately or to the administration through back channels as they see the home-state effects of suspended grants and staff losses. Voting against Trump administration priorities is a different matter but would be the only way to block some of the actions with biggest impact in farm country. Only on tariffs, have Senate Republicans begun to show more public resistance to the administration."

According to Yarrow and Brown, the House Agriculture Committee is due next week to mark up its component of the major package of tax cuts and extensions, border security investments, energy policy and more. “The biggest fight is set to be over the level of cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is worrying many Republicans who don't want their constituents to lose food aid benefits."

EDITOR’S TAKE:

There you have it. Passage of a farm bill in 2025 seems more and more like a distant pipe dream. Congress obviously has their eye on bigger fish in the form of tax cuts and budget savings. Kicking the farm bill down the road seems to be an easy choice for them since all they have to do is extend the current legislation until they can come back to it later. Plus, there is very little patience for a fight over SNAP (food stamps) funding in the current environment. SNAP is one of those political hot potatoes in the farm bill – otherwise, there is typically bi-partisan support.

Even without a new farm bill, farmers/ranchers are more concerned about expanding markets, maintaining exemptions for estate taxes at current or higher levels and restoring section 179 write offs at 100% for buildings and equipment. Perhaps you could devise a “tax free” day for parts or service at your dealership. Better yet, be sure they know about AgPack® with over $45,000 currently in exclusive rebates and discounts. That is like an instant return on their truck investment!