Democratic VP Candidate Tim Walz as an elected House member represented a Minnesota farm community during his five terms in Congress. Here’s a 2016 Agri-Pulse interview with then Rep. Walz talking about the previous farm bill.
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Democratic VP Candidate Tim Walz as an elected House member represented a Minnesota farm community during his five terms in Congress. Here’s a 2016 Agri-Pulse interview with then Rep. Walz talking about the previous farm bill.
Senate Ag Committee member Tina Smith (D-MN) isn’t giving up getting a farm bill done by the end of the year. Speaking at Minnesota Farmfest on Wednesday, she said she’s not ready to talk about extending the 2018 farm bill into 2025.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, says Congress is going to have to pass another stopgap spending bill in September to keep the government funded into fiscal 2025, and she won’t be surprised if it includes a farm bill extension. Interviewed for this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, the House Ag Committee member says she doesn’t know how long the extension would run.
Yesterday the House Agriculture Committee began consideration of its proposed 5 year reauthorization of the farm bill. The bill faces a September deadline for consideration and has a long way to go for approval in a difficult political environment. Here is what leaders of some of the major ag organizations are saying about the House Committee proposal.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sharply criticized House Republicans’ proposed farm bill on Wednesday, saying they are relying on “budget gimmicks” to fund legislation that overpromises and won't deliver for producers.
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.
Farmers and ranchers would like to see increased crop insurance subsidies and commodity price supports in the new farm bill, and a strong majority support cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to an exclusive Agri-Pulse producer poll.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson said Thursday that he now hopes to move a new farm bill by March. Meanwhile, his staff has started briefing farm organizations and other groups this week on possible sources of funding that face resistance from Democrats.
A stopgap government funding bill that includes a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill easily passed the GOP-controlled House Tuesday after Democrats more than made up for the desertion of hardline GOP conservatives who were unhappy the legislation includes no spending cuts. The Senate approved a similar bill Wednesday night.
The top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, John Boozman, says he doesn’t know whether the extra money Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow has identified for the next farm bill will be enough to bolster commodity programs and crop insurance. Stabenow reportedly told Agri-Pulse she expects to have $4 billion to $5 billion in additional funding for the bill. She didn’t identify the source of the money, and Boozman said he doesn’t know where the funding comes from.