Recently, Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson (R-PA-15), who also serves as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said that he expects to have a new Farm Bill introduced “without a doubt” by Memorial Day. His push could help jump-start long-stalled action by those who serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), says he’s still pessimistic about chances for a new Farm Bill this year. However, if Rep. Thompson gets bipartisan agreement in the House Ag Committee on a way to fund farm safety net improvements, Grassley says that could break the cycle of inaction on the Senate side.
“Yeah, if it was something that, I suppose in this case, it’d be something that Republicans could agree to with the funding, and I assume if Thompson came up with something that House Republicans agreed to, it’d probably look pretty good to us,” says Grassley. He still predicts Congress won’t pass a new Farm Bill until next year, although he hopes otherwise.
“What’s going on in the House is very unpredictable, so I wouldn’t want to make a speculation on what the House can do. But I would hope the House would pass a Farm Bill,” he said.
In February, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who serves as Chair of the Senate Ag Committee, said she would rather push a new Farm Bill further into the future rather than strike a deal with Republicans on cutting funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or initiatives that deal with conservation.
“I’m not going to do it,” she says. “If that means we continue the policies of the 2018 Farm Bill, which were pretty good if I do say so myself, then that’s okay.”
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack says he’s also pessimistic about a new Farm Bill coming out of the House given the mix in support among House members for higher crop insurance levels.
“There’s a conflicting set of messages coming out of [Congress] on crop insurance. I think we need, perhaps, some consistency in the approach here would be helpful. There are 166 members of the House Republican caucus that feel that crop insurance should be cut,” said Vilsack.
House Ag Chair Thompson says he is focused instead on limiting the Secretary’s CCC spending authority, while Vilsack says CCC could be used creatively to fund a farm bill and disputes the claims that USDA has abused the fund.
Source: NAFB News Service
