Congress will be back on the Hill in less than a week, and they have a lot of work to do. However, before any work can happen on the Farm Bill, they have to get a handle on government spending bills.
“The first issue, and that’s government funding. So the fiscal year ends September the 30th, Congress will need to either kick the can to the lame duck session after the election, or they could kick the can until early in the new year. Congress is late to the game when it comes to completing a farm bill. They’ve already kicked the can once. They failed to get it done last year and continue to fail in finding a path forward. Appropriations, federal funding, it’s a must do. Everybody knows it has to be done. Continuing to kick the can is a sad state of affairs. When it comes to the farm bill, the world looks a whole lot different in 2024 than it does in 2018. If you look at the state of the economy, the rural economy is in distress,” said Ryan Yates.
The election is another roadblock with the potential for a drastic change in leadership. It is something the American Seed Trade Association says will be a real challenge.
“We see a lot of countries around the world where when they change a president or a leader, it swings dramatically, everybody is gone, and you know, each time somebody leaves, it’s a dramatic swing. So a lot of time reeducating in the U.S., it used to be just a little bit here in the middle. We’re starting to see more of a dramatic swing in the U.S., too, and that’s a concern,” said Andy LaVigne.
Lawmakers are set to be back at work early next week. House Ag Committee Chair GT Thompson is eager to get his farm bill on the floor. Thompson says farmers and ranchers need a new farm bill, and urges other lawmakers to get the job done.
“We already extended the 2018 Farm Bill once, and we shouldn’t have to do that again if Congress can just do its job. In the House, I’m proud of the farm bill that we advanced through our committee. There was a bipartisan bill, I think as you know, we’ve talked about before, there were 40 legislative measures that were led just by Democrats that I put into this bill. I didn’t put it in to get their vote, I never do that. I put them in because we vetted those measures and their proposals helped to put the farm back in the farm bill. 140 measures that were co-led by at least one Republican and one Democrat, and now a whole host of legislative measures were put into the farm bill that were led just by Republicans. This is truly an informed, significant bipartisan bill.
Thompson says he realizes it will take a lot of work in the weeks ahead to get anything passed, but other lawmakers and ag groups have their doubts.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley told reporters this week he believes the 2018 legislation will need another extension.
