The Republican-controlled House has not advanced a new farm bill because “they just don’t have the votes” to pass a bill that is $33 billion over budget, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack over the weekend. Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow was more “practical,” he said, by proposing a smaller increase in so-called reference prices and finding the money to pay for it.
“I keep having the same conversation. They have to get realistic,” said Vilsack when asked about the state of farm bill discussions. Farm bill leaders in Congress either must find additional funding to pay for large increases in crop subsidies or adjust their ambitions if they wish to succeed, said the agriculture secretary during a teleconference on Saturday at the close of the G7 agricultural ministers’ conference in Italy.
Without a breakthrough, Congress was expected to pass its second extension of current law. A one-year extension of the 2018 farm law expires on Monday, with limited impact.
Some 140 of the 220 House Republicans signed a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson last week asking for a no-compromises vote during the lame-duck session on the farm bill approved by the Agriculture Committee in late May, HR 8467. It is the best vehicle “to do right by producers, other agriculture stakeholders, rural communities, and taxpayers by putting more ‘farm’ back into the farm bill and by making responsible reforms,” said the letter. The bill would cut SNAP by $29 billion and allow climate mitigation funds to be spent on any conservation practice.
The bill also would spend $33 billion more than the available funding, said the Congressional Budget Office on Aug. 2. Spending on crop supports would rise $45 billion over 10 years, mostly due to a 15 percent increase in reference prices, making it easier to trigger subsidy payments. Republicans on the Agriculture Committee said the additional spending would be offset by limiting USDA access to a $30 billion reserve. The CBO said the limitation would save $3.6 billion, not the $64-$73 billion claimed by Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson. The chairman has said he would ask the House Budget Committee to overrule the CBO.
Vilsack said Stabenow, meanwhile, is “practical on reference prices.” In a farm bill outline, she proposed increases of at least 5 percent in reference prices, and says that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer would provide $5 billion to defray the cost of her plan.
Leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture committees said throughout September they hoped to reach agreement on the new farm bill in time for a vote during the post-election session. If they cannot, the fall-back step would be extension of current law.
Action on the farm bill has been deadlocked for months over disagreements about SNAP funding, higher crop subsidy spending, and climate mitigation.