It will be difficult or even impossible for Congress to enact a new farm bill amid the disruptions of a federal shutdown, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters at the White House on Monday. A shutdown could begin on Saturday when government funding lapses, which is the same day the 2018 farm law expires. But agricultural leaders in Congress have some leeway — until December — to act on the farm bill.
Without a new farm bill in place or an extension of the 2018 law, the government-guaranteed price of fresh milk would more than double on Jan. 1, according to the underlying 1949 statute. Government support prices for row crops also would soar, but the 2024 crops are months away from harvest.
“We’ll do everything we can to make sure this thing gets passed as quickly as it can. But it’s pretty tough to do if there’s a shutdown. You can’t do it,” said Vilsack during the daily White House news conference.
If there is a shutdown, funding for the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program (WIC) would run out in a matter of days, said Vilsack. USDA local offices would be closed, meaning farmers could not apply for marketing loans for their crops and action on rural housing loans and loan guarantees would halt. The national forests would be closed to tourists. And 50,000 USDA employees, or nearly half the workforce, would be furloughed without pay, he said.
Some 6.7 million pregnant women, new mothers, and children up to age 5 are enrolled in WIC, which provides supplemental food packages and health care referrals to low-income households.
SNAP benefits would be paid through October. “Now if the shutdown were to extend longer than that, there would be some serious consequences to SNAP,” said Vilsack. At latest count, 41.8 million people participated in SNAP with average benefits of nearly $180 a month per person.
Crop insurance and meat inspection would remain in operation during a shutdown.
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture committee have worked in private for weeks on the new farm bill but have not presented a draft in public. They disagree over SNAP funding and proposals to increase reference prices and expand crop insurance; two expensive steps.
“The committee continues to work toward the goal of advancing a bipartisan farm bill, and seeing one signed by the President by the end of the year,” responded a spokesman for Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow when asked if the 2018 law would be extended.
“There is no immediate need for a farm bill extension,” said a spokesman for Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, the senior Republican on the committee.
The farm bill would be put on the congressional back burner during a shutdown, when the priority would be reaching agreement on federal funding, said Vilsack. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “needs to do his job,” he said. “He needs to do the job and get the job done.”
Vilsack was the first of a series of administration officials that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said would appear at the daily briefings to spell out the impact of a shutdown. “We are calling out how a shutdown would damage our country’s economy and national security,” she said.
To watch a video of the White House briefing, click here.