Senator Boozman Outlines Path Forward for Farm Bill After Failed Vote

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Ag Committee says he’ll bring the farm bill back up for another vote after lawmakers return from the August recess.

“We’ll see if we can just push this thing over the finish line,” says Senator John Boozman. He plans to talk with Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar during the recess to determine if there’s a path forward.

“Hopefully, we can work this out, come back, get this thing passed immediately, and then we’ll conference it out,” he says. “I will be talking to G.T. Thompson, chairman of the House Ag Committee, over the summer also. They’ve probably got some differences, and we will resolve those over the summer so that we’ll be ready to go.”

State cost sharing in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program remains the biggest sticking point.

An ag policy specialist at the University of Illinois says he’s losing optimism that a farm bill can make it across the finish line this year.

Jonathan Coppess says the Senate Ag Committee’s markup showed partisanship from lawmakers at a time when agriculture needs negotiations for a compromise. “The ‘my way or the highway’ is usually not a great negotiating situation.”

He says nutrition program changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have strained the farm bill coalition, and that’s playing out.

“They broke the cardinal rule last year when they cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Historically, Coppess says the coalition has made it possible for the legislation to cross partisan divides even in the toughest Congressional situations. “What does it say that we can’t do any of this right now?”

For now, he says the farm bill remains at an impasse with limited time on the Congressional calendar. He says it’s not impossible to get a farm bill done “that’s how an impasse works. It looks like it can’t be broken until it is, but right now, it’s tough to see this dynamic change.”

Senator Klobuchar says Democrats want a two-year delay in the cost-sharing requirements so states have more time to reduce their SNAP error rates. The Senate’s farm bill included a one-year delay.

Boozman says he isn’t willing to go further on the delay, because the proposed delay was hard to negotiate. “The other thing too is it sets a precedent. Every time we have a farm bill, every time we have a bill concerning farmers now, they’ll bring up some unrelated event and then try and say, well, we’re not going to do that, even though it’s the right thing to do, unless you give us this or that.” But he says there are other issues lawmakers can work on, including how SNAP error rates are sampled.

Boozman says there’s not much time left to get the farm bill done. The U.S. Senate is scheduled to be in recess through mid-September.

EDITOR’S TAKE:

It seems passage of a new five-year farm bill has been nearly impossible ever since the last one expired on September 30, 2023. Extensions have been the norm ever since, although Congress did address some of the issues in the One Big Beautiful Bill passed earlier this year. Nonetheless, there does not seem to be the political will to finish the job anytime soon. Numerous times politicians have signaled a deal is in the offing which only prove to be false hope. Agricultural leaders have been strongly supporting any effort to get a deal across the finish line, but to no avail to date. Will this time be any different? We will wait and see….

Now would be a good time to let farmers/ranchers know that you stand with them to get a farm bill passed in 2026. Contacting your congressional delegation would be in order, especially if you know the legislators personally. Working in conjunction with local ag leaders and organizations might also be helpful. These are the types of efforts that help build trust and let farmers/ranchers know that you really do care about agriculture and their well-being.