Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) says Thursday’s Senate farm bill hearing is a make-or-break moment for a five-year Farm Bill. Included in the Senate’s text is a one-year delay for states to share the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill shifts the requirement from beginning in 2028 to 2029.
The Arkansas senator says he does not have confirmation that Democrats on the committee will support the legislation, as some members have pushed for a longer delay. “I’ve talked to the White House, that’s as far as they’re willing to go,” Boozman said. “Many (of) our members, that’s as far as they’re willing to go. So, this is the offer. Nobody’s worked it harder than I, and to be honest, this is where it’s at. So, they can accept it or reject it. But I think if we play around any longer, we’re going to get ourselves in a situation.”
New Jersey Senator and Senate Agriculture Committee member Cory Booker (D- N.J.) posted on X.com that he believes the chairman’s bill “fails to meet the moment of crisis facing America’s farmers and families.” In his post, Booker said, “Democrats should remain united and only support a Farm Bill that includes a clean two-year delay of the SNAP cost shift to states.”
August recess and a short timeline before elections pose a hurdle for Boozman and the rest of his committee. With about three weeks of session after August break before the 2026 midterms, the committee is working against the clock. “Everybody wants more, everybody wants longer, but right now this is where we’re,” Boozman says.
E15’s Back in the Mix
Boozman says the Environment and Public Works Committee signed off on moving the provision for the permanent, year-round sale of E15 into the agriculture committee’s jurisdiction. The provision was pulled from the House’s version of the text and previously not included in the Senate’s legislation.
“I got concerned that, looking at the schedule, here we are into August, getting ready to recess until end of September, counting the days until the election, that it would be very difficult to get something passed separately on the floor between now and when time runs out,” Boozman says. The chairman called E15’s new avenue, a “once in many year opportunity,” and says there has been collaboration on the e15 language in bills by Senator Deb Fisher (R-Neb.), Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and others.
Great news: the updated Farm Bill includes year-round E15 — which will provide the certainty our producers need. Thank you, @JohnBoozman, for working closely with me to make this possible. I’m looking forward to marking up this bill and getting it to @POTUS’ desk.
— Senator Deb Fischer (@SenatorFischer) August 1, 2026
Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) told AgriTalk’s Chip Flory he hopes adding E15 to the Farm Bill makes farmers excited, as they work to move forward a conversation that’s been around for years. “I don’t think we’d be having a markup if we don’t believe that we have the votes to pass the Farm Bill out of the committee this week,” Moran says.
“I think we need to take advantage of it and get this thing done as soon as possible,” Boozman says.
Now or Never
Boozman says if the bill does not move forward on Thursday, it will be “very, very difficult” to get a Farm Bill passed this year. Despite his lack of confidence in Democratic support for the current SNAP language, the chairman remains confident the bill will have bipartisan support. “I’ve been working on this for years, and if we continue to have the goalpost moved, we won’t have a Farm Bill,” Boozman said. The chairman says if the legislation is passed out of committee, the odds of a Farm Bill becoming law are “very, very good.”
“There’s a lot of want to get this done. So, I think that there’s an excellent chance of this actually— getting a Farm Bill to the full Congress and getting it passed before the election,” he said.
