Farm Bill Prospects Lay Fallow

Farm Bill Prospects Lay Fallow

In a flurry of activity after a period of relative calm, Chair G.T. Thompson (R-PA-15) and Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) of the House and Senate Agriculture Committee, respectively, released an overview of their priorities for the Farm Bill.

Earlier this spring, Chair Thompson shared an outline with his Democratic colleagues about how to pay for their bipartisan priorities and received an unenthusiastic reception, signaling early on the difficulty of reaching an agreement before the already extended authorization expires at the end of September. Among the proposals being panned was a repurposing of some the $15 billion allocated to climate-smart agriculture, which Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has made explicit is a non-starter amongst the Senate’s Democrats.

Chair Thompson has vocally pushed to release a draft bill before Memorial Day, which gives staff about a dozen in-session days to work with barring that deadline being bumped to a later date. Given the distance between the House and the Senate on key proposals – and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) leaving the Farm Bill off his list of legislative priorities for the upcoming months – it’s highly unlikely that a final bill is negotiated prior to the fall, with another year-long extension looking increasingly probable.

Chair Thompson’s title-by-title overview can be found here.

Chair Stabenow’s section-by-section overview can be found here.