House Ag Committee
Farmers need to be prepared to pay substantially more for their coverage in 2026, unless Congress acts now to address the impending price surge.
The Senate and House each have their own Committee proposals for President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. There are some key differences in each that could impact farmers and ranchers.
The House of Representatives released its Continuing Resolution text, which includes a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill, $10 billion in farmer economic aid, $21 billion in ag disaster funding for 2023 and 2024 and year-round E15 sales.
Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow finally released the full text of the Senate farm bill on Monday, but it’s already drawing intense criticism. Even usually optimistic House Ag Chair GT Thompson signaled it’s time to focus on a 2018 farm bill extension by year’s end.
John Newton, former Senate Ag Committee economist and now executive head at Terrain, highlights three priorities and a timeframe for a final farm bill.
House Ag Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-Pa.) believes the CBO’s methodology underestimates the potential savings criticized them for what he sees as a history of underestimating Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) outlays.
From differences within Title I of the new farm bill to possible ways both the Senate and House Ag Committee are working to find more funds, U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke one-on-one with AgriTalk this week.
The farm bill finally saw some movement in Washington last month, but the Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor found most economists don’t think it will be passed this year, with some even saying it could be as late as 2026.
The House Ag Committee on Thursday will mark up the House farm bill. House Ag Chair GT Thompson told AgriTalk the panel will have the votes to clear the panel, but he has yet to receive any firm Democratic support.
The attack on Israel by Hamas adds urgency to GOP efforts to elect a new House speaker. The need to focus on Israel may help get a House GOP leadership decision this week, several lawmakers said.
House Ag Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson, along with other members, is seeking additional funding sources for the bill, but that will likely be the biggest farm bill hurdle that may trip up lawmakers.
While Sen. McConnell says the budget has little give, Sen. Boozeman has consistently said he will not support a farm bill that doesn’t provide an increase in the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program’s reference prices.
It’s not as simple as you might think. House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson shares a rundown of the funding and extension processes. He says the ag committees need to find new dollars to expand the farm bill budget.
The Senate and House Ag committees are facing delays in drafting the next farm bill, and it is expected to be the most expensive farm bill to date, clocking in at around $1.5 trillion.
“We can’t prioritize one natural resource concern over all others and we shouldn’t prioritize one solution above all others,” Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) said.
Rep. Thompson signaled he wants to hear “commitment from everyone, including the president, that we will get this done and in the manner I’ve been speaking about. Bipartisan, bicameral, on time and highly effective.’”
SNAP, which historically receives the greatest amount of farm bill funding, will see an 82% increase of a quarter-trillion-dollars.
The House will take the reins in writing farm bill 2023. House Ag Chairman Thompson says the pen is “firmly” in his hand, with few tweaks to be made from 2018. The Senate says their version is nearly complete.
USDA’s second-highest ranking executive, Jewel Bronaugh, announced her resignation on Thursday as Agriculture Deputy Secretary.
Most now look for President Biden to increase his use of executive orders and regulations to fulfill some other goals, including those in the coming farm bill.
House Republicans asked the General Accountability Office to conduct a study on U.S. lands owned by foreign entities. The letter was signed by scores of other House Republicans.
On Tuesday, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack rang in on AgriTalk to share agriculture’s angle in the BBB plan with host Chip Flory.
On Tuesday, Bill Northey weighed in with some perspective on the budget reconciliation bill, which is part of the Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda.
New WHIP+ legislation made its way out of the House Agriculture Committee Tuesday. The $8.5B bill expands not only the type of weather events and resulted losses covered, but also the level of drought needed to qualify.
Less than two weeks after JBS was hit with a cyberattack impacting operations in Australia and North America, Congress is now calling on JBS to provide documents and communications related to the May 30 attack.
The House Ag Committee released their version of the 2018 farm bill on Thursday, which includes several changes to the Ag Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.
The omnibus spending bill before Congress this week does include a change to Section 199A of the President’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.