Farm-state lawmakers could break their deadlock over how to pay for the farm bill by looking elsewhere for money rather than fighting over existing accounts, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. Vilsack, who has repeatedly urged lawmakers to be creative about funding, said it might be possible to tap a $30 billion USDA reserve to support producers in specific instances.
So far, there has been little overt interest in Vilsack’s idea. “In the past, we figured out creative ways to use the CCC, but there has to be a willingness to be open to the conversation,” said Vilsack, referring to the fund held by the Commodity Credit Corp. (CCC), known as the “USDA’s bank.” The fund is used, among other things, to pay for commodity subsidies and to idle fragile land in the Conservation Reserve Program.
During a news conference, Vilsack complimented Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow for an imaginative proposal to provide higher levels of crop insurance coverage to row-crop growers if they forgo traditional crop subsidies. He also said that Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, “says he’s going to bring $5 billion into the [farm] program.”
“He’s obviously got a mechanism for getting those resources into the program outside of the [budget] baseline,” said the secretary, when asked about the reach of congressional accounting rules. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
The Trump administration used the CCC to pay for trade war relief to farmers and the Biden administration used it for pandemic relief for agriculture. Those were short-term programs launched during moments of distress. The programs that draw money from the CCC on an annual basis have been authorized by law and are included in budget “scores” of federal spending, which could complicate Vilsack’s maneuver, said a farm policy analyst.
Congress replenishes CCC funds on a regular basis.
“Every year, there are billions of resources left on the table,” Vilsack told reporters. “To break the [farm bill] logjam, get in the room and let’s have a conversation on precisely what it is that you’re concerned about and what triggers it, and under what circumstances will people need help, and how would you try to relieve it. What difference does it make what you call it if, at the end of the day, producers are assisted through a difficult time.”
A spokesman said Vilsack offered examples of how CCC funding could be used, but did not offer proposals. “As you know, it is up to Congress to draft and pass the legislation,” he said.
For months, the so-called four corners of the farm bill — the leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture committees — have been at loggerheads over funding. While each has said more money is needed, no additional funds have been offered. Farm groups want higher reference prices, which would make it easier to trigger subsidy payments, and broader crop insurance coverage. Republicans view $20 billion in climate funding as an offset for higher farm support spending and are pressing for cuts in SNAP, too — both of them red lines for Democrats.
Three animal welfare protesters interrupted Vilsack during his keynote address at the USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, a rarity at an event where statistics rule.
“You wasted one billion of our tax dollars to bail out the chicken industry,” said one of the protesters, referring to outlays to prevent the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza and to indemnify the owners of infected flocks.
“Yesterday, I was told I didn’t care about production agriculture. Now I’m being told I care too much,” said Vilsack to applause. On Wednesday, he spent five hours at a House Agriculture Committee hearing, where Republican lawmakers said he had overlooked the needs of the large-scale farmers who produce the lion’s share of U.S. crops and livestock.