The one topic on everyone’s mind was the status of the farm bill. Passing a new farm bill this year is still a long shot, but the House Agriculture Committee’s plan to mark up a bill later this month could help some vulnerable Republicans while also putting additional political pressure on a handful of Democrats who are in close re-election races.
Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., insists he wants bipartisan support for his bill, but there have been no signs yet of cracks in Democratic opposition to some of his provisions.
Thompson acknowledged in an interview with Agri-Pulse that reporting a bill out of committee would help Republican members of the panel who are in swing districts, but in a subtle jab at Democrats suggested they too could benefit from moving his bill.
The bill is “going to help any member no matter what their political affiliation is if they represent to any degree those who produce, those who process and those who consume. Because the nutrition title’s going to be a pretty strong title with the chairman’s mark,” he said.
At least eight Democrats on the committee as well as six Republicans face tough re-election races this year.
Thompson hasn’t released details of his bill, only a broad outline, but it includes some provisions that could appeal to Democrats, including a provision to roll back the ban on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for people convicted of drug felonies.
But Thompson also has insisted on including restrictions on future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), a model of food costs that is used to set SNAP benefit levels. The TFP restrictions have emerged as the key partisan flashpoint in the leadup to the committee’s farm bill markup.
The committee’s ranking member, Georgia Democrat David Scott, reiterated to Agri-Pulse this week that committee Democrats remain unified, but some at least are listening to GOP appeals.
House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat who released a detailed section-by-section of her draft bill last week, are scheduled to meet Thursday with Democratic members of the committee. Democrats on the committee also are expected to meet with each other this week, and Thompson said he will be meeting separately with Stabenow.