The farm bill was delayed until after the election as Congress failed to figure out how to pay for it • Ohio Capital Journal

WASHINGTON — A sweeping bill that would set food and agriculture policy for the next five years is in limbo, waiting for lawmakers to decide its fate after the election.

The final deadline for the farm bill passed unceremoniously at midnight on September 30, without the legislature giving any impetus to pass a new farm bill or an extension.

Congress will have to scramble in the lame-duck session that begins Nov. 12 to reach agreement on the farm bill before benefits expire at the end of the year – which, if it happens at all, would have serious consequences.

The law began 90 years ago with various payments to support farmers, but now has impacts far beyond the farm, with programs to create wildlife habitat, combat climate change and provide the nation’s largest federal food program.

Ag coalition in disarray

The omnibus farm bill is more than a year behind schedule as the bipartisan congressional coalition that has advanced farm legislation for half a century teeters on the brink of collapse.

Congress must pass a new federal farm law every five years. The previous agricultural law from 2018 expired a year ago. Since there was no agreement in sight at the time, lawmakers extended the law until September 30, 2024.

The delay creates further uncertainty for farmers, who face falling prices for many crops and rising costs for fertilizers and other inputs.

Lawmakers have some buffer before Americans feel the consequences of the expiration.

Funding for most major programs runs through the end of the calendar year, but once a new crop year begins in January, they would become “permanent law” again, transferring crop support from the 1938 and 1949 farm bills back to policymakers.

According to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, these measures contradict modern agricultural practices and international trade agreements and could cost the federal government billions.

“Groundhog Day,” quoted by Vilsack

The standoff between Democrats and Republicans over the farm bill has centered on how to pay for it and whether to restrict food and climate programs.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters in a press briefing Saturday that the process “feels like Groundhog Day” — because he keeps having the same conversations about it over and over again. Vilsack said Republicans “simply didn’t have the votes” for the bill passed in the House Agriculture Committee, which is why it sat in the House for four months.

“If they want to pass the farm bill, they have to be practical and either lower their expectations or increase resources. And if they want to raise resources, they have to do it in a way where they don’t lose votes, but where they actually win votes,” said Vilsack, a former Iowa governor.

The Republican-led committee passed its farm bill in late May largely along party lines, although Democrats complained that the process was no longer as bipartisan as in previous years.

The partisan divide is not uncommon in today’s Congress, but it is noticeable in the farm bill, which has brought together lawmakers from both parties in the past. Bipartisan support may be needed for final passage, as the $1.5 trillion size of the farm bill means it will inevitably lose some votes from fiscal conservatives and others.

Shutdown threat

Lawmakers are on borrowed time when it comes to both the farm bill and the budget bills that fund the federal government.

Both the House and Senate passed stopgap legislation in late September to prevent a partial government shutdown. The short-term funding bill, sometimes called a Continuing Resolution (CR), will keep the federal government running until December 20.

Some agricultural leaders had asked for a decision not to extend the agricultural law in order to postpone the deadline for work on it after their return.

The day after they approved the CR and left the Capitol, 140 Republican House members sent a letter to congressional leadership asking that the farm bill be prioritized in the final weeks of 2024.

“Farmers and ranchers do not have the luxury of waiting until the next Congress to pass an effective farm bill,” the letter says, pointing to rising production costs and falling commodity prices that have put farmers in a difficult position.

House Democrats also say they want to pass a new farm bill this year.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, called the farm bill one of his top three lame duck priorities. His list also included budget appropriations and the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets Pentagon policy.

“It will be important to see if we can find a path forward and reauthorize the farm bill to ensure that we can meet the needs of farmers, meet the needs of Americans from a nutritional standpoint and also continue our progress. “We have made a difference in addressing the climate crisis,” Jeffries said in a statement to reporters on September 25.

Nearly 300 members of the National Farmers Union visited the legislature in September to demand passage of a new five-year farm bill before the end of 2024.

“Family farmers and ranchers can’t wait — they need the certainty of a new farm bill this year,” Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union, said in a statement after the meetings. “With net farm incomes projected at historic lows, increasing concentration in the agricultural sector, high production costs and interest rates, and more frequent and devastating natural disasters, Congress must not miss this opportunity to pass a five-year farm bill.”

Disagreements over the SNAP formula

The main battle for Democrats this year is a funding calculation that would place limits on the Thrifty Food Plan formula used to calculate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

This would keep SNAP payments at current levels, but would permanently freeze the ability of future presidents to increase food aid. Democrats have called it a sneaky cut to vital support for hungry Americans that immediately kills the bill.

Republicans are using the caps as part of a funding calculation to offset other spending in the bill. The bill would increase price support for some crops such as cotton, peanuts and rice.

“You have to do one of two things,” Vilsack said of lawmakers. “Either they have to realize that they can’t afford all the things they would like to if they want to stay within the resources that are actually available…Or another alternative would be to find more money.”

Vilsack recommended finding other sources of funding outside of the farm bill, such as changes to the tax code.

“You close a loophole here or there in terms of taxes or whatever, and you generate more revenue, and that revenue directly offsets the increase in the farm bill.”… That’s the right way to go. And that, frankly, is the way Senator Stabenow is approaching the farm bill,” Vilsack said, referring to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

The Senate Agriculture Committee has not received any public comment or formal submission of a bill. But executives say committee staff have met weekly to discuss the path forward. Stabenow has not publicly disclosed the offsets for the money she said could be included in the bill.