House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson said “my door remains open” for negotiations despite having drafted a farm bill package that crosses two red lines drawn by Democrats on his committee. Thompson released a 38-page summary of his package, the most detailed description yet, while appealing for support ahead of his planned May 23 committee vote on it.
“While the chairman’s mark is near finalized, my door remains open,” said Thompson in an open letter to U.S. representatives and farm bill stakeholders. “It is not one-sided, it does not favor a fringe agenda, and it certainly does no harm to the programs and policies that feed, fuel, and clothe our nation.”
Thompson’s package would cut SNAP funding by $28 billion and would allow climate funding to be used for any conservation practice. Democrats on the committee have objected to both steps. “Republicans have turned their back on what could have been a genuinely bipartisan bill,” said Georgia Rep. David Scott, the senior Democrat on the committee, on May 1.
A meeting between Thompson and Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, planned for last Friday, was postponed because the House recessed for the weekend earlier than expected. Congressional farm bill leaders have been at an impasse for months over SNAP cuts, climate funding, and higher farm subsidy spending.
In the summary released on Friday, Thompson said he would increase the statutory reference price for major row crops by 10-20 percent, allow a one-time expansion of “base” acres eligible for crop subsidies, and double the funding for two export promotion programs. The package also would require future reviews of the cost of a healthy diet to have a cost-neutral result. Republicans were irked by a 2021 review that resulted in a 21 percent increase in SNAP benefits.
A summary of Thompson’s package is available here. The full package is available here.