There aren’t very many working days left for Congress to get a farm bill across the finish line this year. Indiana’s Mike Braun sits on the Senate Ag Committee and says he and his Republican colleagues are trying to get more farm in the farm bill, which is why he doesn’t think it’ll happen until he’s out of the Senate in 2025 as he seeks the Indiana governorship.
“If we do try to get it done, I don’t think we’re going to get as much in it as what we should. So, of course, it’ll be kicked down the road. It’ll be the current farm bill that extends itself. And I think as hot as things are politically, I think we could be in better shape if we maybe wait until next year.”
While the House Ag Committee has passed their version of the farm bill, Senate Ag Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow has yet to put hers forward for a vote. The Michigan Democrat is retiring at the end of this Congress. She has previously said that she would rather continue kicking this farm bill discussion down the road than strike a deal with Republicans that would limit climate funding and social safety net programs.
“The current farm bill, I know we need to get it updated, addressing issues that are current,” Braun says, “but if we do it just for the sake of getting it done, I’m afraid we may not be happy with it. And yes, I know Debbie well. She’s got things that she wants to make sure that live on in terms of a legacy. But I don’t know that that’s going to be what we want in the farming community.”
Just last week, Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall wrote, “If Congress fails to pass a new and improved farm bill, they will be responsible for leaving farmers in a lurch at a time when we’ve lost more than 140,000 family farms in just five years.”
He continued, saying that “Congress must not put farmers, ranchers and America’s families on the back burner. The House Agriculture Committee has done its part so far. It’s now time for the Senate Agriculture Committee to move this process forward.”
